6,9./// 


^  PRINCETON,  N.  J.  ,^ 

Presented   by   "e5<7^v^  e^    O  .  YTA<2-\^Y-\  oV  , 

^Pf^fi"5'  M-  J.  1810-1872. 
D  Aubigne's  "History  of  the 
Great  Reformation  in 


1* 


D'AUBIGNE'S 

HISTORY  OF  THE  REFORMATION 

REVIEWED. 


SI 


^ 


^. 


IVAUBIGNE^S  ^' HISTORY 

OF  THE 

GREAT   REFORMATION" 

IN 

German})  anb  Sroit^erlajj.^ 
RE  VIE  WE  Df     JUN  9 


^(i 


SL&ieu. 


THE   REFORMATION   IN   GERM 
EXAMINED 

IM    ITS 

INSTRUMENTS,    CAUSES,    AND    MANNER, 

AND    IN    1T9 

Inflxtence  on  Religion,    ©ODernmeut, 

LITERATURE,  AND  GENERAL  CIVILIZATION. 

By    M.   J.   SPALDING,    D.D. 


Qufecumque  dixi  de  Tuo,  Domine,  agnoscant  et  Tui ;  si  qufe  de  meo,  et  Tu  ignosce 
el  Tui.— S<.  Augustine, 


BALTIMORE: 
PRINTED    AND    PUBLISHED    BY    JOHN   MURPHY, 

146       MARKET       STREET. 

PITTSBURG: GEORGE      Q.UIGLEY. 

1844. 


Entered,  according  to  the  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  one  thousand  eight  hundred 
and  forty-four,  by  John  Mcrphy,  in  the  Clerk -s  office,  of  the  District  Court  of 
Maryland. 


MURPHY,  PRINTER. 


EXPLANATION    OF    THE    FRONTISPIECE. 

The  device  is  intended  to  represent  Judas  alone,  separated  from  the  other  apostles, 
and  standing  on  the  side  of  darkness,  as  displeased  with,  and  protesting  against  the 
Saviour's  promise  to  Peter.  He  holds  the  purse  which  drags  him  backward  to  the 
edge  of  the  precipice  from  which  he  is  about  to  fall  into  the  waves  of  perdition. 
Beyond  him  in  the  distance  rises  the  toiver  of  opposition  to  the  church,  or  "  the  gates 
of  hell"— but,  broken,  to  signify  that  it  cannot  prevail.  The  cloud  behind  the  apos- 
tles is  intended  as  a  veil  that  shuts  from  their  view  the  future  church  of  which  the 
promises  are  now  given,  and  which,  itself,  dimly  appears  beyond  the  cloud  just  over 
which  is  seen  the  gate  of  the  cross,  by  which  all  must  enter.  This  gate  leads  through 
u  triple  tower  bearing  the  triangle,  and  representing  Three  in  one.  The  distant 
temple  is  a  hint  at  St.  Peter's  at  Rome,  and  the  three  embattled  fortresses  on  which 
it  stands,  may  signify  either  the  laity,  priests  and  bishops,  or  the  three  orders  of  the 
hierarchy.  The  two  flanking  towers,  capped  with  mitres,  represent  the  episcopacy. 
The  Holy  Spirit  dwells  vvithin  the  church,  and  imparts  his  influence  to  the  seven 
streams  which  issue  from  the  rock,  and  flow  in  a  direction  contrary  to  the  spirit  of 
the  world,  watering  trees  that  produce  abundance  of  fruit.  These  streams  arc 
meant  for  the  sacraments. 


^0  t|)f 

Hi  Rev.  Qr^an-cirj  J^ci^ii^  (^t&?i/Uo£,  D. 


A  ND    AS     A 
SLIGHT  TRIBUTE  OF  GRATITUDE  FOR  FAVORS  RECEIVED 


THE     AUTHOR 


rREFACE 


The  following  pages  were  Avritten  during  intervals  snatched 
from  severe  missionary  labors.  Their  appearance  in  the  present 
form^  is  at  least  as  much  the  result  of  accident  as  of  previous 
design.  The  writer  had  at  first  merely  intended  to  prepare,  for 
one  of  our  Catholic  Magazines,  two  or  three  papers,  reviewing 
the  late  work  of  M.  D'Aubigne  on  the  Reformation.  He  had 
made  considerable  progress  in  this  undertaking,  before  the  idea 
of  writing  a  book  even  occurred  to  his  mind.  He  was,  however, 
subsequently  led  to  adopt  this  resolution,  by  the  great  extent  and 
importance  of  the  subject,  and  the  utter  impossibihty,  in  which 
he  found  himself,  of  doing  any  thing  like  justice  to  it  in  a  few 
brief  essays.  These  would  scarcely  have  afforded  sufficient  space 
to  exhibit  even  a  meagre  catalogue  of  M.  D'Aubigne's  numerous 
omissions,  blunders,  and  misrepresentations. 

M.  D'Aubigne's  '^'^ History  of  the  Great  Reformation"  has 
been  widely  circulated  throughout  the  land.  The  edition  which 
the  writer  of  the  present  Review  has  used  is  the  ffteenth ;  and 
it  was  issued  in  three  thick  volumes  duodecimo,  at  a  very  low 
price.  The  book  may  be  found  everywhere  —  in  the  steam- 
boat and  in  the  hotel  —  in  the  city  residence  and  in  the  coun- 
try. The  religionists  of  the  day  have  everywhere  hailed  its 
appearance  as  a  perfect  God-send.  The  press  and  the  pulpit 
have  combined  to  sound  its  praises.  And  yet  the  work  is  - 
tissue  of  niiserable  cant  and  misrepresentation  from  V'-o*'^^'^^"^  ° 


XVI  PREFACE. 

end !  The  reviewer  hopes  to  make  this  appear  by  undeniable 
evidence,  consisting  of  facts  taken  from  original  documents  and 
other  authentic  sources.  All  that  he  asks  of  those  who  have 
read  and  admired  the  work  of  M.  D'Aubigne,  is  to  read  also  and 
to  examine  carefully  the  evidence  which  he  has  endeavored  to 
spread  before  the  community.  To  the  candid  of  aU  denomina- 
tions, he  would  beg  leave  to  say:  Hear  the  other  side  —  audi 
alteram  partem. 

The  writer  has  not  intended  to  confine  himself  to  a  mere 
Review  of  M.  D'Aubigne's  History.  He  has  designed  to  write 
an  extended  and  connected  essay  on  the  Protestant  reformation 
in  Germany,  examining  that  revolution  in  the  character  of  the 
men  who  brought  it  about,  in  its  causes  and  manner,  and  in  its 
manifold  influences  on  religion,  on  free  government,  on  litera- 
ture, and  on  general  civilization.  As  far  as  this  plan  seemed  to 
demand  or  to  allow,  he  has,  as  he  proceeded,  availed  himself  of 
the  admissions,  supphed  the  omissions,  and  corrected  the  false 
statements  of  the  Protestant  historian  of  the  reformation. 

Many  of  the  facts  which  he  has  felt  it  his  duty  to  republish, 
from  all  the  sources  to  which  he  could  have  access,  exhibit 
painful  evidences  of  human  depravity-  in  those  men  too,  who 
have  been  studiously  held  up  as  the  leaders  of  God's  people,  and 
as  the  very  paragons  of  perfection.  Though  the  truth  of  history, 
and  the  necessity  of  doing  justice  to  the  reformation,  required  the 
publication  of  many  things,  which  a  delicate  and  fastidious  taste 
would  perhaps  otherwise  have  omitted,  yet  the  reviewer  is  not 
aware  of  any  intention  unnecessarily  to  shock  the  prejudices, 
much  less  wantonly  to  wound  the  feelings  of  any  one.  He  is 
deeply  persuaded,  that  Christian  charity  —  the  great  queen  of 
es  —  demands  of  us  to  have  a  due  regard  for  the  feehngs  of 
others ;  v^^^  j^^.,  jg  thoroughly  persuaded,  that  no  one  was  ever 


PREFACE.  XVll 

yet  converted  by  harsh  means,  or  by  abusive  language.  Charity 
is,  however,  not  only  not  incompatible  with  truth,  but  it  even 
demands  that  the  whole  truth  should  be  told,  especially  when  its 
concealment  would  be  a  cause  of  error  to  many,  in  matters  too 
of  most  deep  and  vital  importance. 

A  full  and  correct  history  of  the  reformation  in  Germany  is,  it 
is  believed,  a  desideratum  in  our  English  Catholic  literature.  The 
writer  of  this  essay,  far  from  flattering  himself  that  he  has 
supplied  this  deficiency,  has  merely  wished  to  awaken  attention 
to  the  subject.  How  far  he  has  succeeded,  the  public  will  best 
judge.  Conscious  of  the  many  imperfections  of  the  work,  he 
could  have  wished  that  some  one  more  competent,  and  more 
experienced  in  writing,  had  engaged  in  the  undertaking.  To  his 
brethren  of  the  clergy  and  laity,  many  of  whom  would  have  been 
certainly  better  quahfied  than  himself  for  the  task,  he  would  say 
with  the  old  Latin  poet : 

"  Si  quid  novisti  rectius  istis, 
Candidas  iinperti :  Si  non,  his  utere  mecum." 


Bardstown,  Kentucky, 

Feast  of  Christmas,  1843, 


plan   of  tl)e   Het)ietD 


PART    I. 

PAGE 

THE  CHARACTER  OF  THE  REFORMERS 38 

PART     II. 
THE  CAUSES  AND  MANNER  OF  THE  REFORMATION 67 

PART    III. 
THE  INFLUENCE  OF  THE  REFORMATION  ON  RELIfilON 162 

P  A  R  T     IV. 
THE  INFLUENCE  OF  THE  REFORMATION  ON  SOCIETY  ' 245 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

Introduction 25 

chapter  i. 
The  character  of  the  reformers 38 

CHAPTER    II. 

The  character  of  the  reformation  —  Theory  of  M.  D'Aubigne  ex- 
amined   67 

CHAPTER    HI. 

Pretexts  for  the  reformation 75 

CHAPTER    IV. 

The  true  causes  and  manner  of  the  reformation,  and  the  means  by 
which  it  was  effected 91 

CHAPTER    V. 

The  reformation  in  Switzerland 123 

CHAPTER    VI. 

Reaction  of  Catholicity  and  decline  of  Protestantism 139 

CHAPTER    VII. 

Influence  of  the  reformation  on  doctrinal  belief. 162 

CHAPTER   VIII. 

Influence  of  the  reformation  on  morals ; 185 

CHAPTER    IX. 

Influence  of  the  reformation  on  worship 206 


XXII  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER    X. 

PAGE 

Influence  of  the  reformation  on  the  Bible;  on  Bible  reading,  and 

biblical  studies 220 

CHAPTER    XI. 

Influence  of  the_  reformation  on  religious  liberty 245 

CHAPTER    XII. 

Influence  of  the  reformation  on  civil  liberty 275 

CHAPTER    XIII. 

The  reformation  at  Geneva,  and  its  influence  on  civil  and  religious 

liberty 300 

CHAPTER    XIV. 

Influence  of  the  reformation  on  literature 824 

CHAPTER    XV. 

Influence  of  the  reformation  on  civilization 358 

Conclusion 377 


ERRATA. 

Owing  to  the  distance  of  the  author's  residence  from  the  place  of  pub- 
lication, some  errors  of  print  were  unavoidable.  The  author,  however, 
takes  great  pleasure  in  saying,  that,  having  received  by  mail  corrected 
proof-sheets  embracing  216  pages — from  page  25  to  page  240 — he  was 
able  to  discover  but  few  faults,  most  of  them  in  proper  names,  or  per- 
haps arising  from  mistakes  in  the  manuscript.  This  remarkable  cor- 
rectness is  ascribable  to  the  well  known  accuracy  of  the  publisher,  and 
to  the  close  attention  of  the  friend  who  kindly  superintended  the  publi- 
cation. To  both  the  author  returns  his  most  sincere  thanks ;  and  he 
begs  leave  also  to  remark,  that,  had  his  position  allowed  him  to  correct 
the  proof-sheets  himself,  he  would,  have  been  able  to  make  some  addi- 
tions to  the  text,  as  well  as  several  corrections  in  the  style  and  phrase- 
ology.    The  following  are  the  chief  typographical  errors  alluded  to. 

Page  29,  line  27,  for  modeste  read  modiste. 

"    66,    "     11,     "  judgment  read  private  judi^menl. 

"  116,    "     17,    "   all  sins  read  all  their  ain^, 

'<     «        "     19,    "   they  read  the  latter.  - 

"     "      first  note,  for  serpent  read  serpunt. 

"    *'     last  note,  third  line  from  bottom,  for  at  read  as. 

"  125,  line  24,  for  Glavia  read  Glaris. 

"  151,    "     19,    "   Fassevin  read  Posseim. 

"  162,  in  tlie  Sunmiary,  for  Munger  read  Munzer. 

"  163,  and  seq.  in  title  of  ch.  vii,  (or  religion  read  doctrinal  betitf. 

"  215,  line  16,  for  preface  of  read  Preface  and. 

"  227,    "      8,    "   Brentans  read  Brentano. 

"  239,    "      S,     "   influenced  read  have  influenced. 

"    "      first  note,  for  fads  read  faults. 


D'AUBIGNE'S 
HISTOEY  OF  THE  REFORMATION 

REVIEWED. 

INTRODUCTION. 


PRINCIPAL    WRITERS    ON   THE    REFORMATION THEIR   RESPECTIVE 

CHARACTERS     FOR     RESEARCH     AND    VERACITY VIL- 

LERS ROBELOT AUDIN d'aUBIGNE. 

I.  History  of  the  great  Reformation  of  the  Sixteenth 
Century  in  Germany,  Switzerland,  &c.  By  J.  H.  Merle 
D'Aubigne,  President  of  the  Theological  School  of  Geneva,  and 
member  of  the  "  Societe  Evangelique."  3  vols.  12mo,  15th  edition. 
Robert  Carter :  N.  York,  1843. 

II.  History  of  the  Life,  Writings,  and  Doctrines  of  Mar- 
tin Luther.  By  J.  M.  V.  Audin.  Translated  from  the  French. 
1  vol.  8vo,  pp.  511.    Philadelphia :  M.  Kelly.     1841. 

III.  Influence  de  la  Reformation  de  Luther,  sur  la  croy- 

ANCE   RELIGIEUSE,  LA  POLITIQUE,  ET  LE  PROGRES  DES  LUMIERES. 

Par  M.  Robelot,  ancien  chanoine  de  I'Eglise  cathedrale  de  Dijon. 
A  Lyon.  1822.  1  vol.  8vo,  pp.  440.  (Influence  of  the  reformation 
of  Luther  on  religious  belief,  on  politics,  and  on  the  progress  of  en- 
lightenment.   By  M.  Robelot.) 

We  have  placed  these  three  works  at  the  head  of  our 
remarks,  because  thej  all  treat  of  the  same  great  religious 
revolution,  viewed  under  different  aspects.  They  all  pro- 
pose to  exhibit  to  us  the  great  drama  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury, with  its  prominent  actors,  its  numerous  stirring  and 
startling  scenes,  and  its  powerful  effect  on  the  great  au- 
dience of  the  world.  Such  another  drama  has  not  been 
permitted  by  heaven,  or  witnessed  by  mankind,  at  any 
previous  period  of  history. 


26  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

The  landmarks  of  faith,  hallowed  by  antiquity,  were 
then  violently  removed  :  time-honored  institutions  were 
destroyed  ;  and  new  ones,  exercising  various  influences 
on  religion,  on  literature,  and  on  government,  were  reared 
in  their  place.  Antiquity  was  then  decried,  and  innova- 
tion became  the  order  of  the  day.  The  principles  of  the 
ancient  faith  having  been  unsettled,  new  doctrines,  vary- 
ing with  the  private  judgment  or  fancy  of  each  religionist, 
were  zealously  promulgated  as  the  revelation  of  God.  A 
vertigo  seems  then  to  have  seized  upon  the  minds  of  men  ; 
and  its  symptoms  are  clearly  traceable  in  the  constant 
uncertainty  and  perpetual  changes  of  religious  belief 
since  that  period.  No  portion  of  history  is  more  worthy 
of  our  serious  attention,  whether  w^e  consider  the  interest 
of  the  facts  which  it  discloses,  or  the  high  considerations 
which  they  involve  for  good  or  for  evil. 

The  friends  of  the  religious  changes  in  question  have 
been  in  the  habit  of  styling  the  revolution  in  which  they 
originated — '*  the  reformation  :"  and  it  would  have  been 
strange,  indeed,  if  they  could  not  at  least  have  given  it 
a  good  name.  The  great  body  of  Christians,  who  firmly 
believe  that  the  change  of  religion  was  unwarranted  and 
for  the  worse,  have  still  in  general  employed  the  same 
term;  though-  the  word  deformation  would  more  accu- 
rately express  their  view  of  the  subject.  Of  the  three 
writers  to  whose  works  we  at  present  invite  attention, 
the  first  named  is  a  zealous  advocate  of  the  reformation  ; 
while  the  two  last  are  no  less  zealously  opposed  to  its 
claims,  either  to  divine  origin,  or  to  usefulness  in  its  va- 
ried influences  on  mankind.  It  is  not  our  purpose  to 
give  a  lengthy  review  of  their  respective  productions  : 
still  we  must,  as  an  introduction  to  our  own  remarks,  say 
a  few  words  on  the  general  character  of  each  ;  and  we 
begin  with  M.  Robelot,  the  last  named. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  present  century,  the  National 
Institute  of  France  off'ered  a  premium  for  the  best  essay 
"  on  the  character  and  influence  of  the  reformation  of 


INTRODUCTION.  27 

Luther."  About  the  year  1802,  the  prize  was  awarded 
to  a  work  by  Charles  Villers,  **  on  the  spirit  and  influence 
of  the  reformation  of  Luther."*  This  writer — an  infidel 
in  principle — labored  hard  to  prove  that  the  reformation 
has  been  beneficial  to  society,  in  a  literary,  political,  and 
religious  point  of  view.  His  essay  was  spirited,  and 
adorned  with  all  the  graces  of  rhetoric;  and  it  was  per- 
haps as  much  to  these  qualities,  as  to  the  cogency  of  his 
reasoning,  or  the  soundness  of  his  position,  that  his  work 
was  indebted  for  the  crown  which  it  received.  The 
French  Institute  had  not  yet  recovered  from  the  vertigo 
of  that  most  disastrous  revolution  in  France,  which  had 
but  carried  out  the  principles  sustained  in  that  of  Luther. 
Its  decision  is  but  another  of  the  many  proofs  of  sympa- 
thetic feeling  among  errorists  of  every  varying  shade  of 
opinion.  The  whole  French  revolution  in  fact  had  af- 
forded numerous  evidences  of  a  kindred  feeling.  Though 
Catholics  were  every  where  proscribed  and  persecuted, 
and  though  Catholic  priests  in  particular  were  hunted 
down,  and  butchered  in  multitudes  ;  yet  do  we  never 
read  of  one  Protestant  having  been  molested,  or  of  one 
Protestant  minister  having  suffered  martyrdom  for  his 
faith,  during  that  whole  period  of  wide-spread  desolation, 
of  terror,  and  of  bloodshed  !  Besides,  the  French  Insti- 
tute had  political  motives  to  subserve.  Napoleon,  then 
first  consul,  was  already  beginning  to  set  up  again  the 
altars  which  that  revolution  had  desecrated  and  thrown 
down.  The  Institute,  jealous  of  his  growing  power, 
wished,  by  the  decision  alluded  to,  to  oppose  some  coun- 
terpoise to  its  further  increase. 

An  unexceptionable  and  very  competent  witness,  Henry 
Hallam,  a  Protestant,  pronounces  the  following  opinion 
on  the  merits  of  the  work  of  M.  Villers  :  *'  The  essay  on 
the  influence  of  the  reformation  by  Villers,  which  ob- 
tained a  prize  from  the  French  Institute,  and  has  been 
extolled  by  a  very  friendly  but  better  informed  writer  in 

*  "  Essai  Sur  I'esprit  et  influence  de  la  reformation  de  Luther."  12mo. 


28  d'aubigne's  bistort  reviewed. 

the  Biographic  Universelle,  appears  to  me  the  work  of  a 
man  who  had  not  taken  the  pains  to  read  any  one  con- 
temporary work,  or  even  any  compilation  which  contains 
many  extracts.  No  wonder  that  it  does  not  represent,  in 
the  slightest  degree,  the  real  spirit  of  the  times,  or  the- 
tenets  of  the  reformers.  Thus,  ex.  gr.,  *  Luther,'  he 
says,  *  exposed  the  abuse  of  the  traffic  of  indulgences,  and 
the  danger  of  believing  that  heaven  and  the  remission  of 
all  crimes  could  be  bought  with  mbney  ;  while  a  sincere 
repentance  and  an  amended  life  were  the  only  means  of 
appeasing  divine  justice.'  (Page  65,  Eng.  translation.) 
This  at  least  is  not  very  like  Luther's  antinomian  con- 
tempt for  repentance  and  amendment  of  life ;  it  might 
come  near  to  the  notions  of  Erasmus."*  This  is  the 
opinion  of  a  man,  as  learned  as  he  is  judicious,  to  whose 
judgment  we  shall  have  occasion  frequently  to  appeal  in 
the  sequel. 

M.  Robelot's  work  was  intended  as  a  refutation  of  that 
by  Villers.  He  completed  it  in  1807;  but,  owing  to 
various  petty  vexations  from  the  French  police,  and  from 
the  censors  of  the  press,  he  was  not  able  to  publish  it  un- 
til 1822.  See  his  preface,  p.  xiv.  It  evidences  consid- 
erable research,  is  analytical  and  well  reasoned  through- 
out, and,  what  few  works  are,  it  is  clear  and  lucid  in  its 
arrangement.  The  author  views  the  Protestant  reforma- 
tion in  its  influence  on  religion,  on  government,  and  on 
literature  ;  and  shows,  against  the  flippant  assertions  and 
flimsy  arguments  of  Villers,  that,  in  each  of  these  aspects, 
it  has  proved  injurious  to  society.  The  chief  defects  of 
the  work  are,  that  it  is  somewhat  wanting  in  point,  and 
rather  meagre  in  facts.  This  is  especially  true  of  the 
second  part,  in  which  the  writer  discusses  the  political 
bearing  of  the  reformation.  Belonging  himself,  it  would 
seem,  to  the  political  school  of  legitimacy,  or  ultra  royal- 

*  Hallam — "  Introduction  to  the  Literature  of  Europe  in  the  xv,  xri 
and  xviith  Centuries,"  in  2  vols.  8vo  edit.  Harper  &  Brothers  :  New 
Fork,  1841.     Vol.  i,  p.  16G,  note. 


INTRODUCTION.  29 

ism,  he  labored  under  great  disadvantage  in  the  attempt 
to  prove  that  the  reformation  had  tended  to  prevent  what, 
in  his  view,  is  the  summum  bonum  of  political  govern- 
ment— a  fixed  and  hereditary  monarchy.  Nothing  is 
more  certain,  as  we  shall  endeavor  hereafter  to  establish, 
than  that  the  tendency  of  that  revolution  was  to  crush 
the  democratic  principle,  and  to  favor  absolute  systems 
of  government.  But  these  defects  apart,  the  work  of  M. 
Robelot  is  a  valuable  contribution  to  the  portion  of  his- 
tory of  which  it  professes  to  treat.  Still,  we  look  with 
great  anxiety  for  the  new  work  on  the  same  subject  prom- 
ised us  by  M.  Audin,  at  the  close  of  his  Life  of  Luther.* 
This  writer  has  labored  indefatigably  and  successfully  in 
elucidating  the  history  of  the  reformation.  To  qualify  him- 
self for  the  task,  he  visited  all  the  libraries  of  Europe,  espe- 
cially those  of  France,  Switzerland,  and  Germany.  He 
discovered  many  works  hitherto  neglected  or  unknown. 
On  the  theatre  of  the  reformation  itself  he  collected  many 
valuable  facts,  picked  up  many  incidents  rich  in  interest, 
and  gathered  much  ancient  lore,  based  on  local  traditions 
and  public  monuments.  His  two  Lives  of  Luther  and 
Calvin  have  given  to  the  world  the  results  of  these  labors. 
The  former  has  been  translated  into  English  by  an  accom- 
plished clerical  scholar  of  the  United  States  :  and  so  well 
does  the  English  dress  sit  on  the  French  author,  that  he 
does  not  seem  ill  at  ease  in  his  new  garb ;  even  the  most 
fastidious  Parisian  modeste  being  judge.  His  style  is  live- 
ly, piquant,  and  dramatic.  In  fact  almost  the  only  serious 
fault  we  have  to  find  with  the  work,  is  that  the  writer 
sometimes  sacrifices  the  clearness  and  order  of  the  narra- 
tive to  its  dramatic  effect.  He  exhibits  Luther  in  the 
various  scenes  of  his  private  and  of  his  public  life — in 
his  confidential  conversations  with  his  boon  companions, 
while  drinking  beer  with  them  at  the  "  Black  Eagle"  of 
Wittemberg,  as  well  as  in  his   eloquent  invectives  from 

*  Page  511.     The  work  is  to  be  entit'ed :  "Sur  les  influences  de 
Luther." — "  On  the  influence  of  Luther." 


so  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

the  pulpit,  and  his  more  studied  harangues  before  the 
diets  of  the  empire.  So  lively  is  the  picture,  that  the  re- 
former seems  to  reappear  on  the  stage  of  life,  and  to  act 
over  again,  before  our  eyes,  the  stirring  scenes  of  his 
great  drama.  But  what  we  chiefly  admire,  is  the  histo- 
rian's impartiality.  He  gives  us  both  sides  of  the  ques- 
tion— the  redeeming  as  well  as  the  odious  features  of 
Luther's  character :  for  some  virtues  the  reformer  had, 
even  after  he  began  the  work  of  the  reformation! 

We  wish  we  could  say  as  much  for  M.  I)'x\ubigne,  the 
first  on  our  list.  Impartiality  is  not  certainly  a  leaf  in 
his  historic  crown.  Finding  that  he  hailed  from  Geneva, 
we  expected  to  see  him  imbued  with  the  deistic  spirit 
which  is  now  so  fashionable  in  that  former  hot-bed  of 
Calvinism.  We  guessed  that  he  was  either  a  German 
naturalist — deist — or  at  least — what  amounts  to  almost 
the  same  thing — a  philosopher,  according  to  the  modern 
French  school  of  eclectism,  a  system  which  makes  it 
fashionable,  especially  for  the  writer  of  history,  to  make 
statements  on  both  sides  of  every  question,  with  so  much 
skill  that  it  would  require  a  wizard  to  divine  his  real 
meaning,  or  to  define  his  position  !  But  he  is  neither  the 
one  nor  the  other.  He  is  a  Protestant  of  the  olden  type  : 
there  is  more  of  fanaticism  than  of  indifferentism  in  his 
complexion.  His  spirit  is  worthy  that  of  Luther,  though 
his  manner  of  showing  it  is  a  little  softened  down,  to  suit 
modern  taste. 

He  is  a  partisan  of  the  most  violent  stamp.  And  yet 
he  seeks  to  mislead  his  readers  in  the  very  first  lines  of 
his  preface.  "  The  work  I  have  undertaken,"  be  begins, 
"  is  not  the  history  of  a  party.  It  is  the  history  of  one  of 
the  greatest  revolutions  ever  effected  in  human  affairs — 
the  history  of  a  mighty  impulse  communicated  to  the 
world  three  centuries  ago — and  of  which  the  operation  is 
every  where  discernible  in  our  own  days.  The  history 
of  the  reformation  is  altogether  distinct  from  the  history 
of  Protestantism.  In  the  former  all  bears  the  character 
of  a  regeneration  of  human  nature,  a  religious  and  social 


INTRODUCTION.  81 

transformation  emanating  from  God  himself.  In  the  latter 
we  see  too  often  a  glaring  depravation  of  first  princi- 
ples— the  conflict  of  parties — a  sectarian  spirit — and  the 
operation  of  private  interests." 

It  is  very  convenient  at  least  to  separate  the  history  of 
the  reformation  from  that  of  Protestantism  :  it  saves  the 
writer  much  perplexing  labor.  But  the  separation  is  un- 
natural and  illogical.  We  cannot  judge  properly  of  a 
cause  without  witnessing  its  necessary  effects.  As  well 
might  we  undertake  to  give  the  natural  history  of  the 
tree  without  speaking  of  its  fruits  ;  or  to  paint  the  dread- 
ful hurricane  without  alluding  to  the  ruins  which  it  left  in 
its  course.  It  is  a  divine  maxim  to  judge  the  tree  by  its 
fruits.  This  principle  once  admitted,  it  requires  a  large 
amount  of  credulity  to  believe  that  a  **  transformation 
emanated  from  God  "himself,"  the  fruits  of  which  were 
avowedly  *'  a  depravation  of  first  principles — the  conflict 
of  parties — a  sectarian  spirit — and  the  operation  of  pri- 
vate interests:''  and  he  might  have  added  :  sects  innu- 
merable of  every  motley  hue — endless  variations  in  reli- 
gious belief — a  breaking  up  of  all  unity  of  faith  by  war- 
ring creeds — and  the  loss  of  all  settled  belief,  with  the 
sacrifice  of  charity  !  These  are  the  natural  and  neces- 
sary fruits  of  the  reformation,  according  to  the  stern  evi- 
dence of  facts.  Protestantism  is  the  best  and  the  only 
authentic  commentary  on  the  reformation. 

He  exhibits  himself  the  partisan  throughout  his  entire 
history.  On  every  page  he  manifests  his  partiality.  Else 
why  does  he  so  incessantly  miscolor  or  suppress  facts  ? 
Why  does  he  omit  almost  every  thing  that  could  compro- 
mise the  character  of  the  reformers,  or  vindicate  that  of 
their  opponents  ?  To  select  a  few  out  of  a  hundred  in- 
stances, why  does  he  give  us  only  nine  of  the  more  odious, 
out  of  more  than  fifty  of  the  Theses,  or  Propositions,  of 
Tetzel,*  while  he  gives  those  of  Luther  entire  ?  Why 
does  he  make  the  learned  and  amiable  Cardinal  Cajetan 
*  Vol.  i,  pp.  269-70. 


32 

appear  so  supremely  ridiculous  in  his  interview  with  Lu- 
ther ?*  Why  does  he  labor  to  vindicate  Luther  and  the 
reformers  in  every  thing,  either  wholly  suppressing  their 
many  glaring  faults,  or  maliciously  ascribing  them  to  a 
remnant  of  '*  popish  superstition,"  as  when  he  so  gently 
alludes  to  the  reformer's  famous  "  conference  with  the 
devil'.'  at  the  castle  of  Wartburg,  in  1521  ?t  Why  does 
he,  on  the  other  hand,  ascribe  all  the  actions  of  the  popes, 
and  of  Catholic  prelates,  who  came  into  collision  with 
the  reformers,  to  wicked  cunning  and  malicious  finesse? 
Why  bring  his  preconceived  theory  to  bear  on  every  fact 
of  his  history?  Is  all  this,  and  much  more  that  might  be 
alleged,  no  evidence  of  partisanship  ?  If  he  sought  to 
be  really  impartial,  why  rely,  for  almost  all  his  state- 
ments, upon  the  testimony  of  the  most  decided  parti- 
sans— of  Luther,  Melancthon,  Mathesius,  Seckendorf, 
and  others  ?  And  why  suppress  even  the  better  half  of 
the  testimony  of  these  partial  witnesses  ?  We  shall  take 
occasion  to  supply  many  of  his  omissions,  as  we  proceed, 
as  well  as  to  correct  many  of  his  misrepresentations. 

His  history,  as  far  as  it  is  comprised  in  the  three  vol- 
umes which  we  have  seen,  is  very  incomplete,  embracing 
only  the  first  eight  years  of  the  reformation,  and  closing 
a  few  months  after  the  diet  of  Augsburg,  which  was  held 
in  December,  1525.  His  style  is  lively,  and  his  narrative 
interesting  and  abounding  in  incident.  It  would  be  per- 
haps an  agreeable  romance,  but  for  the  insufferable  cant 
with  which  it  is  overcharged.  What  cool  assurance  in 
the  false  statements,  repeated  usque  ad  nauseam — that  the 
Catholic  church  did  not  know  the  Gospel,  until  Luther 
revealed  this  hitherto  hidden  treasure — that  she  denied 
the  merits  of  Christ,  the  necessity  of  faith  and  grace  for 
justification — and  many  other  such  absurdities  !  And 
yet,  upon  these  unfounded  allegations,  which  he  reite- 
rates without  a  shadow  of  evidence,  his  entire  history  is 
based  !     He  is  no  partisan,  forsooth  ! 

*  Vol.  i,  350  seqq,  ]  Vol.  iii,  40. 


INTRODUCTION.  S3 

His  theory  of  Christianity  is  not  new.  It  pursues  the 
same  old  beaten  track  of  error.  He  develops  it  in  his 
preface  and  in  his  first  book;*  and  makes  all  his  subse- 
quent history  bend  to  its  maxims.  He  very  conveniently 
narrows  down  the  whole  Christian  system  to  two  cardi- 
nal principles:  1st,  perfect  equality  among  Christians, 
based  on  the  supremacy  of  private  judgment,  to  the  ex- 
clusion of  authoritative  teaching ;  and,  2d,  salvation  by 
faith  alone  without  works,  and  by  grace  without  human 
merit.  "  The  church,'*  he  says,  *'  was  in  the  beginning  a 
community  of  brethren.  All  its  members  were  taught  of 
God  ;  and  each  possessed  the  liberty  of  drawing  for  him- 
self from  the  fountain  of  life."t  Again  :  "  as  soon  as 
salvation  was  taken  out  of  the  hands  of  God,  it  fell  into 
the  hands  of  the  priests.  The  latter  put  themselves  in 
the  place  of  the  Lord ;  and  the  souls  of  men,  thirsting 
for  pardon,  were  no  longer  taught  to  look  to  heaven,  but 
to  the  church,  and  especially  to  its  pretended  head."| 

Throughout  the  whole  first  book  he  labors  to  prove 
that  the  Catholic  church  trampled  on  these  two  princi- 
ples. *'  Christianity  had  declined,  because  the  two  guid- 
ing truths  of  the  new  covenant  had  been  lost."§  The 
papacy  arose  in  the  "  dark"  ages  by  a  series  of  usurpa- 
tions— the  whole  church  bowed  to  the  tyranny,  and  fell 
into  fatal  error:  "the  living  church  retiring  by  degrees 
to  the  lonely  sanctuary  of  a  fev/  solitary  souls. "[} 
"  Works  of  penance,  substituted  for  the  salvation  of  God, 
multiplied  in  the  church  from  the  time  of  Tertullian  to 
the  thirteenth  century."^  Tertullian,  he  tells  us,  towards 
the  close  of  the  second  century  had  said:  "it  is  neces- 
sary to  change  our  dress  and  food,  we  must  put  on  sack- 
cloth and  ashes,  we  must  renounce  all  comfort  and  adorn- 
ing of  the  body,  and,  falling  down  before  the  priest, 
implore  the  intercession  of  the  brethren."**  Rank  popery 

*  Vol.  i,  from  p.  15  to  p.  118.        f  Vol.  i,  p.  17.         J  Vol.  i,  p.  34, 
§  Vol.  i,  p.  68.       ilVol.i,  p.  20.       H  Vol.  i,  p.  35.       **Ibui. 


34  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

even  in  the  second  century !  Only  think  of  such  things 
being  "necessary"  for  Protestants  of  M.  D'Aubigne's 
delicate  nerve  !  These  same  works  of  penance  never 
were  fashionable  among  Protestants:  they  went  out  of 
vogue  through  the  glorious  "  emancipation  of  the  human 
mind"  by  Luther !  He  pointed  out  an  easier  way  to 
heaven  ! 

M.  D'Aubigne  winds  up  his  long-winded  string  of  as- 
sertions by  these  remarkable  antitheses,  which  contain 
the  gist  of  his  theory.  *' Popery  interposes  the  church 
between  God  and  man  :  Christianity  and  the  reformation 
bring  God  and  man  face  to  face.  Popery  separates  man 
from  God  :  the  gospel  reunites  them."*  He  then  brings 
up,  as  witnesses  of  the  truth  against  Rome,  all  the  driv- 
elling sectaries  of  the  middle  ages — Claudius  of  Turin, 
Peter  de  Bruys,  Peter  Waldo,  Wicliffe,  and  Huss.t  He 
sneers  at  the  Catholic  church  for  teaching  **  that  the  sin- 
ner is  justified  by  faith  and  by  works  :"J  and  yet  St. 
James  teaches  the  self-same  doctrine  in  almost  the  same 
identical  words  ;§  and  for  his  teaching  thus,  Luther  reck- 
lessly rejected  his  Epistle  **  as  one  of  straw,  and  un- 
worthy of  an  apostle  !" 

In  the  midst  of  all  his  rant,  he  however  occasionally,  at 
lucid  intervals,  waxes  wonderfully  liberal.  *'  But  first," 
says  he,  "let  us  do  justice  to  that  church  of  the  middle 
age,  which  intervened  between  the  age  of  the  apostles 
and  the  reformers.  The  church  was  still  the  church, 
although  fallen,  and  more  and  more  enslaved.  (!)  In  a 
word,  she  was  at  all  times  the  most  powerful  friend  of 
man.  Her  hands,  though  manacled,  still  dispensed  bless- 
ings. Many  eminent  servants  of  Christ  diffused  through 
these  ages  a  beneficent  light,"  &c.l|  Among  these  emi- 
nent servants  of  God,  he  names  a  poor  Carthusian  monk, 
brother  Martin,  who  confessed  that  Christ  had  redeemed 
him,  and  hid   away  his  confession  in   a  box,  which  was 

*  Vol.  i,  pp.  .39-40.  ]Yo\.i,i>.  70  seqq.  J  Vol.  i,  p.  33. 

§  St.  James  ir,  14-17.  1|  Vol.  i,  p.  40. 


INTRODUCTION.  35 

wonderfully  discovered  on  the  Slat  December,  1776,  in 
taking  down  the  wall  of  an  old  convent  !*"  We  could 
point  him  to  a  thousand  and  one  other  witnesses  in  the 
church  of  the  middle  age,  who  taught  this  same  doctrine, 
and,  along  with  it,  more  maxims  of  piety  than  M.  D'Au- 
bigne  "  ever  dreamed  of  in  his  philosophy,"  Let  him 
but  read  Digby's  *'  Ages  of  Faith,"  in  five  large  oc- 
tavo volumes,  which  is  a  tissue  of  such  heavenly  maxims 
borrowed  from  the  middle  ages.  Let  him  read  the  works 
of  Thomas  a  Kempis,  of  St.  Bernard,  of  St.  Bonaventure, 
of  St.  Anselm,  of  St.  Thomas  Aquinas,  and  of  others. 
Luckily,  their  confessions  are  not  hidden  in  a  box !  And 
we  defy  him  or  any  one  else  to  prove  that  the  Catholic 
church  ever  taught  that  man  can  be  saved  without  faith 
or  without  grace.  She  has  invariably  taught  the  precise 
contrary,  against  the  Pelagian  and  Semi-Pelagian  here- 
sies, which  she  has  always  proscribed. 

Palmer,  a  Protestant  writer,  bears  the  following  evi- 
dence to  the  faith  of  the  Catholic  church  on  this  subject: 
•*  During  the  period  now  under  consideration  (from  1054 
to  the  reformation)  all  the  most  learned  and  eminent  the- 
ologians of  the  western  church  continued  to  believe  that 
man  cannot  merit  salvation  hy  his  own  works,  but  that  he 
must  place  his  whole  trust  and  confidence  in  the  mercy  of 
God,  and  the  atonement,  merits,  and  intercession  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ."  Compendious  Ecclesiastical  His- 
tory, p.  114.   N.  York,  1841. 

M.  D'Aubigne  devoutly  believes  that  the  reformation 
was  the  direct  work  of  God,  and  that  the  reformers  were 
chosen  instruments  of  heaven  for  bringing  it  about.  He 
is  certainly  not  wanting  in  faith  to  believe  all  this.  Pity 
he  did  not  attempt  to  show  which  of  the  many  contra- 
dictory systems  of  reform  was  tlie  work  of  God;  or 
which  of  the  jarring  sects,  to  which  that  revolution  gave 
rise,  carried  out  the  design  of  God.     We  apprehend  that 

*  Vol.  i,  p.  73. 


36  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

God  could  not  sanction  contradictions.  But  we  forget — 
M.  D'Aubigne  has  anticipated  this  difficulty :  he  is  not 
writing  the  history  of  Protestantism — not  he.  He  pities 
the  "  perverseness  of  the  human  heart,"  which  led  the 
great  Bossuet  to  write  his  history  **  of  the  variations  of 
the  Protestant  churches  !"  He  is  too  practised  to  under- 
take any  such  thorny  work  !  Were  he  to  write  a  volume 
on  each  of  the  Protestant  sects,  with  a  separate  chapter  to 
give  an  account  of  every  successive  change  of  belief  by 
each  sect,  his  lifetime  would  not  suffice  to  complete  the 
history.  New  volumes  and  new  chapters  should  be  daily 
added  to  the  work,  until  at  last  **  the  world  would 
scarcely  contain  the  books  that  would  be  written !" 
**  Calvin  was  wise  for  not  writing  on  the  Apocalypse  ;"* 
and  his  disciple,  D'Aubigne,  shows  similar  sagacity  in 
not  attempting  to  write  the  history  of  Protestantism  ! 

We  propose  to  exami  ne  in  a  series  of  chapters  whether  the 
reformation  was  really  the  work  of  God ;  and  whether  it 
has  been  of  real  benefit  to  mankind  ?  And  that  our  read- 
ers may  the  more  readily  follow  our  line  of  argument,  we 
think  it  better  to  advise  them — though  formal  divisions 
are  growing  unfashionable  in  this  frivolous  age — that  we 
shall  inquire ; — 

I.  Whether  the  men  who  brought  about  the  reformation 
in  Germany  were  such  as  God  could  or  would  have  em- 
ployed to  do  his  work  ? 

II.  Whether  the  motives  which  prompted,  and  the 
means  which  were  employed  to  accomplish  that  revolution, 
were  such  as  God  could  sanction  ? 

III.  Whether  the  reformation  really  effected  a  reform 
in  religion  and  in  morals  ? 

And  IV,  whether  its  influence  was  beneficial  to  society, 
by  developing  the  principles  of  free  government,  and  pro- 
moting literature  and  civilization  ? 

Our  inquiry  will  be  chiefly  confined  to  Germany,  Swit- 

*  "  Calvinus  sapuit  quia  non  scripsit  in  Apocalypsim."    Scaliger. 


INTRODUCTION.  S7 

zerland,  and  the  northern  kingdoms  of  Europe ;  and  we 
propose  to  avail  ourselves  of  the  authority  of  M.  D'Au- 
bigne,  and  to  refute  his  false  statements,  as  we  advance ; 
so  far  at  least  as  the  train  of  our  remarks  may  seem  to 
call  for,  or  to  warrant. 


JPart  I. 


CHAPTER    I 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  REFORMERS. 


M.  D'Aubigne's  opinion — A  reformed  key — Luther's  parents — His 
early  training — A  naughty  boy — Convents — Being  "led  to  God," 
and  "  not  led  to  God" — He  enters  the  Augustinian  convent — Aus- 
terities— A  "  bread  bag" — His  faith  and  scruples — His  humility  and 
zeal — Luther  a  reformer — Grows  w^orse — Becomes  reckless — His 
sincerity  tested — Saying  and  unsaying — Misgivings — Tortuous 
windings — Kovf  to  spite  the  Pope — Curious  incident — Melanc- 
thon  and  his  mother — Luther's  talents  and  eloquence — His 
taste — His  courage  and  fawning — His  violence  and  coarseness — 
Not  excusable  by  the  spirit  of  his  age — His  blasphemies — Recrimi- 
nation— Christian  compliments — "  Conference  with  the  devil" — 
Which  got  the  better  of  the  argument — Luther's  morality — Table- 
talk — His  sermon  on  marriage — A  Vixen — How  to  do  "  mischief  to 
the  Pope" — A  striking  contrast — How  to  fulfil  vows — His  marriage 
— Misgivings — Epigrams  and  satires — Curious  incidents  in  his  last 
sickness — Death-bed  confession — His  death — The  reformed  key 
used — Character  of  the  other  reformers. 

M.  D'AuBiGNE  compares  the  reformers  to  the  Apos- 
tles ;*  and  his  favorite  theory  is,  that  the  reformation  itself 
was  but  **  the  reappearance  of  Christianity."t  Speaking 
of  the  life  and  character  of  Luther,  he  says  "the  whole 
reformation  was  there. "J  **  The  different  phases  of  this 
work  succeeded  each  other  in  the  mind  of  him  who  was  to  be 
the  instrument  for  it,  before  it  was  publicly  accomplished 
in  the  world.  The  knowledge  of  the  reformation  effected 
in  the  heart  of  Luther  himself  is,  in  truth,  the  key  to  the 
reformation  of  the  church. "§ 

*  B.  ii,  p.  118,  vol.  i.        t  Pref.  iv.      .  J  Vol.  i,  p.  118.        §  Ibid 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  REFORMERS.  39 

We  will  abide  by  this  test.  We  will  examine  for  a 
brief  space  the  external  form,  and  the  internal  structure — 
the  many  tortuous  turnings  and  intricate  wards  of  this 
**  key"  of  the  Protestant  reformation  ;  and  we  will  be  en- 
abled to  estimate  the  character  of  the  latter, — which,  as 
we  hope  to  show,  was  a  '*  lock  on  the  understanding" — 
from  the  properties  of  the  former.  Dropping  the  figure, 
we  will  compare  the  character  of  Luther  while  he  contin- 
ued a  Catholic,  during  the  first  thirty-four  years  of  his  life, 
with  what  it  subsequently  became  after  he  had  turned  re- 
former, or  for  the  last  twenty-nine  years  of  his  life — from 
1517  to  1546.  If  we  ascertain  that  his  own  character  un- 
derwent a  change  greatly  for  the  worse  during  the  latter 
period,  we  will  be  compelled,  by  M.  D'Aubigne's  own 
rule,  to  admit  that  the  general  tendency  of  the  reforma- 
tion was  evil. 

To  facilitate  the  understanding  of  our  remarks,  and  to 
obviate  repetition,  we  here  state  that  Luther  was  born  at 
Eisleben,  in  Saxony,  on  the  10th  of  November,  148S — 
that  he  attended  successively  the  schools  of  Mansfeld, 
Magdeburg,  and  Eisenach,  and  completed  his  education 
in  the  university  of  Erfurth — that  he  was  ordained  priest  in 
1506,  turned  reformer  in  1517,  was  married  in  1525,  and 
died  on  the  17th  of  Feb.  1546,  in  the  63d  year  of  his  age. 

While  under  the  influence  of  the  Catholic  church,  he 
was  probably  a  very  good  man — he  was  certainly  a  very 
bad  one  after  he  left  the  church.  His  parents  were  poor, 
but  they  seem  to  have  been  pious,  especially  his  mother. 
From  an  early  age,  they  labored  to  train  him  up  in  sen- 
timents of  piety,  as  well  as  to  imbue  his  mind  with  the 
elements  of  learning.  **  As  soon  as  he  was  old  enough 
to  receive  instruction,"  says  M.  D'Aubigne,  **  his  parents 
endeavored  to  communicate  to  him  the  knowledge  of  God, 
to  train  him  in  his  fear,  and  to  form  him  to  the  practice 
of  the  Christian  virtues.  They  applied  the  utmost  care  to 
his  earliest  domestic  education.*    He  was  taught  the  heads 

♦D'Aubigne  i,  122. 


40  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

of  the  catechism,  the  ten  commandments,  the  Apostles' 
creed,  the  Lord's  prayer,  some  hymns,  some  forms  of 
prayer,  a  Latin  grammar  composed  in  the  fourth  century 
by  Donatus  ;  in  a  word,  all  that  was  studied  in  the  Latin 
school  of  Mansfeld."*  In  the  good  old  Catholic  times, 
then,  parents  knew  their  duty  to  their  children,  and  peo- 
ple were  not  so  stupidly  ignorant  after  all! 

Luther  seems  to  have  been  a  very  naughty  boy;  for 
while  at  school  in  Mansfeld,  **  his  master  flogged  him  fif- 
teen times  in  one  day  ;"t  and,  in  his  after-life,  he  was 
wont  to  complain  of  the  cruel  treatment  he  received  from 
his  parents.  "  My  parents  treated  me  cruelly,  so  that  I 
became  very  timid  :  one  day,  for  a  mere  trifle,  my  mother 
whipped  me  till  the  blood  came.  They  truly  thought  they 
were  doing  right;  but  they  had  no  discernment  of  charac- 
ter, which  is  yet  absolutely  necessary,  that  we  may  know 
when,  on  whom,  and  how,  punishment  should  be  in- 
flicted.":}: His  parents  acted  on  the  old  maxim ;  "  spare 
the  rod  and  spoil  the  child" — and  if  he  was  subsequently 
so  much  spoiled,  even  with  all  the  previous  training  of  the 
rod,  what  would  he  have  been  without  its  salutary  re- 
straint } 

Though  '•'  it  appears  that  the  child  was  not  yet  led  to 
God,"§  still  he  evinced  a  great  fund  of  piety.  "  But  even 
at  this  early  age,  the  young  man  of  eigliteen  did  not  study 
merely  with  a  view  of  cultivating  his  understanding ; 
there  was  within  him  a  serious  thoughtfulness,  a  heart 
looking  upwards,  which  God  gives  to  those  whom  he  de- 
signs to  make  his  most  zealous  servants.  Luther  felt  that 
he  depended  entirely  on  God, — a  simple  and  powerful 
conviction,  which  is  at  once  a  principle  of  deep  humility, 
and  an  incentive  to  great  undertakings.  He  fervently 
invoked  the  Divine  blessing  upon  his  labors.  Every  morn- 
ing he  began  the  day  with  prayer ;  then  he  v/ent  to  church ; 

*  D'Aubigne  i,  p.  123.      f  Ibid,      t  Luth.  0pp.  Wittemb.  xxii,  17S5. 
§D'Aubigne  i,  p.  123. 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  REFORMERS.  41 

afterwards  he  commenced  his  studies,  and  he  never  lost 
a  moment  in  the  course  of  the  day.  *  To  pray  well,'  he 
was  wont  to  say,  *  was  the  better  half  of  study.'  "*  This 
looked  a  little  like  being  *'  led  to  God." 

On  the  17th  of  August,  1505,  he  entered  into  the  Au- 
gustinian  convent  at  Erfurth,  being  then  in  the  22d  year 
of  his  age.  He  was  induced  to  take  this  important  step 
by  avow  he  had  made  to  consecrate  himself  entirely  to 
God,  in  case  of  his  deliverance  from  a  terrific  storm,  by 
which  he  was  overtaken  near  Erfurth,  and  in  which,  ac- 
cording to  one  account,!  his  friend  Alexis  was  stricken 
dead  by  lightning  at  his  side.  "  At  length  he  is  with 
God,"  says  M.  D'Aubigne.  "  His  soul  is  safe.  He  is  now 
to  obtain  that  holiness  he  so  ardently  desired.":{;  The 
monasteries  were  then  not  so  bad  as  Protestants  would 
fain  represent  them.  "They  often  contained  Christian 
virtues" — M,  D'Aubigne  himself  tells  us — **  which  grew 
up  beneath  the  shelter  of  a  salutary  retirement ;  and  which 
if  they  had  been  brought  forth  to  view,  would  have  been 
the  admiration  of  the  world.  They  who  possessed  these 
virtues,  living  only  with  each  other  and  with  God,  drew 
no  attention  from  without,  and  were  often  unknown  even 
to  the  small  convent  in  which  they  were  inclosed — their 
life  was  known  only  to  God."§ 

Luther  entered  the  convent  with  the  purest  motives, 
and  labored  in  it  to  overcome  himself  by  mortification  and 
self-denial,  and  to  acquire  humility  and  all  the  Christian 
virtues.  *•  But  it  was  not  to  gain  the  credit  of  being  a 
great  genius  that  he  entered  the  cloister ;  it  was  to  find 
the  aliments  of  piety  to  God."ll  The  monks  **  imposed  on 
him  the  meanest  offices."  They  perhaps  wished  to  hum- 
ble the  doctor  of  philosophy,  and  to  teach  him  that  his 
learning  did  not  raise  him  above  his  brethren. . . .  The  for- 

*  Mathesius  3,  apud  D'Aub.  i,  130. 

t  Discredited,  perhaps  with  reason,  by  D'Aubigne  (ibid.  p.  135,  note.) 
t  Ibid.  p.  136.  §Ibid.  p.  14G-7.  ||  Ibid- p.  141. 

4* 


42  dVubigne's  history  reviewed. 

mer  master  of  arts  was  obliged  to  perform  the  functions 
of  door-keeper,  to  open  and  shut  the  gates,  to  wind  up  the 
clock,  to  sweep  the  church,  to  clean  the  rooms.  Then, 
when  the  poor  monk,  who  was  at  once  porter,  sexton,  and 
servant  of  the  cloister,  had  finished  his  work — *•  cum  sac- 
CO  per  civitatem^^ — **  with  your  bag  through  the  town  !" 
cried  the  brothers  ;  and,  loaded  with  his  bread  bag,  he  was 
obliged  to  go  through  the  streets  of  Erfurth,  begging  from 
house  to  house,  and  perhaps  at  the  doors  of  those  very 
persons  who  had  been  either  his  friends  or  his  inferiors. 
But  he  bore  it  all.  Inclined  from  his  natural  disposition, 
to  devote  himself  heartily  to  whatever  he  undertook,  it 
was  with  his  whole  soul  that  he  had  become  a  monk.  Be- 
sides, could  he  wish  to  spare  the  body  ?  To  regard  the 
satisfying  of  the  flesh  ?  Not  thus  could  he  acquire  the  hu- 
mility, the  holiness  he  had  come  to  seek  within  the  walls 
of  a  cloister."*  How  does  this  spirit  of  self-denial,  con- 
trast with  the  gross  self-indulgence  of  his  subsequent  life, 
when  he  had  thrown  off  all  those  antiquated  trammels ! 
Well  does  his  panegyrist  remark,  that  "  there  was  then 
in  Luther  little  of  that  which  made  him  in  after-life  the 
reformer  of  the  church."!  As  we  shall  see,  this  remark 
is  strikingly  true. 

He  received  ordination  with  fear  and  trembling  at  his 
own  un worthiness.  So  great  was  his  awe  of  the  holy 
sacrament,  that  in  a  procession  at  Eisleben,  on  the  feast 
of  Corpus  Ckristi,  he  almost  fainted  through  overpowering 
reverence  for  Christ  truly  present. J  He  was  scrupulous 
to  a  fault.  He  frequently  gave  way  to  fits  of  despondency 
and  melancholy,  which  were  with  difiiculty  removed.  As 
a  panacea  for  his  troubled  mind,  an  aged  monk  called  his 
attention  to  that  article  of  the  Apostles'  creed  in  which 
we  profejss  to  believe,  "  in  the  forgiveness  of  sins."§  The 
humble  confidence  in  our  forgiveness  through  God's  mer- 

♦  Ibid.  p.  139.        t  Ibid.  p.  138.  %  Ibid.  p.  157.        §  Ibid.  p.  154. 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  REFORMERS.  43 

cjy  which  this  article  is  so  well  calculated  to  inspire,  was 
afterwards  reduced  bj  the  reformer  to  an  absolute  and 
infallible  certainty,  that  his  own  sins  were  forgiven.  So 
apt  are  men  to  run  into  extremes,  especially  those  who  are 
addicted  to  scruples  !  When  these  are  removed — as  was 
unhappily  the  case  with  Luther — they  too  often  are  ex- 
changed for  the  opposite  extreme  of  wanton  reckless- 
ness. This  remark  is  a  key  to  the  reformer's  subsequent 
life. 

His  deep  humility  caused  him  to  shrink  from  the  office 
of  preaching.  It  was  with  great  difficulty  that  Staupitz, 
his  superior,  could  overcome  this  reluctance.  *'  In  vain 
Staupitz  entreated  him  :  *  No,  no,'  replied  he,  *  it  is  no 
light  thing  to  speak  to  men  in  God's  stead.'  "  '*  An  affect- 
ing instance  of  humility  in  this  great  reformer  of  the 
church,"*  adds  M.  D'Aubigne.  He  unhappily  gave  no 
evidence  of  any  such  spirit,  after  he  had  turned  reformer, 
as  we  shall  see  presently.  Had  he  always  preserved  this 
Christian  spirit,  the  peace  of  the  church  would  in  all  pro- 
bability never  have  been  disturbed. 

In  1516,  but  one  year  before  the  commencement  of  the 
reformation,  Staupitz  directed  him  to  make  the  visitation 
of  the  forty  convents  belonging  to  the  Augustinian  Order 
in  Germany.!  He  discharged  this  difficult  office  with 
singular  prudence  and  zeal.  He  every  where  reformed 
abuses,  gave  salutary  counsels,  and  animated  the  monks  to 
the  practice  of  every  virtue.  A  little  later,  he  gave  ad- 
ditional evidence  of  Christian  humility.  Having  received 
a  new  gown  from  the  elector  Frederick  of  Saxony,  he 
thus  wrote  to  Spalatin,  the  elector's  secretary.  *'  It  would 
be  too  fine  if  it  were  not  a  prince's  gift.  I  am  not  wor- 
thy that  any  man  should  think  of  me,  much  less  a  prince, 
and  so  noble  a  prince.  Those  are  most  useful  to  me  who 
think  worst  of  me.  Present  my  thanks  to  our  prince  for 
his  favor,  but  know  that  I  desire  neither  the  praises  of  thy- 

*  Ibid.  p.  161.  t  lb.  p.  191,  seqq. 


44  d'aubigne'8  history  reviewed. 

self  nor  of  others  :  all  the  praise  of  man  is  Tain,  the  praise 
that  cometh  from  God  being  alone  true."* 

He  was  no  less  zealous  and  devoted  than  he  was  hum- 
ble. When  the  plague  broke  out  in  Wittemburg,  in  1516, 
his  friends  advised  him  to  flj  from  a  malady  which  swept 
off  whole  multitudes.  Luther  answered :  *'  you  advise  me 
to  flee — but  whither  shall  I  flee  ^  I  hope  the  world  will 
not  go  to  pieces,  if  brother  Martin  should  fall.  If  the 
plague  spreads,  I  will  send  the  brethren  away  in  all  direc- 
tions; but  for  my  part,  I  am  placed  here  :  obedience  does 
not  allow  me  to  leave  the  spot,  until  He  who  called  me 
hither,  shall  call  me  away."t  He  did  not  behave  thus 
courageously,  when  the  pest  again  visited  Wittemberg, 
after  he  had  left  the  church ;  he  then  stated  that  the  minis- 
ter of  God  fulfilled  his  duty,  if  he  administered  the  sacra- 
ments to  his  flock  once  or  twice  in  the  year;  and  that  it 
was  an  intolerable  burden  to  be  under  the  obligation  to  do 
more,  especially  in  time  of  plague! 

Such  was  Luther  before  he  began  the  reformation  in 
1517.  How  changed,  alas!  was  he  after  this  period — heu! 
quantum  mutatus  ab  illo !  He  is  no  longer  the  humble 
monk,  the  scrupulous  priest,  the  fervent  Christian,  that 
he  was  before!  Amidst  the  storm  which  he  excited,  he 
gradually  suffered  shipwreck  of  almost  every  virtue,  and 
became  reckless  and  depraved — the  mere  creature  of  im- 
pulse, the  child  of  pride,  the  victim  of  violent  and  degra- 
ding passion  !  We  trust  to  make  all  this  appear  from  cer- 
tain and  undoubted  facts,  which  no  one  can  deny.  And 
the  result  of  our  reasoning  will  be  the  irresistible  conclu- 
sion, that  for  him  at  least,  the  reformation  was  a  down-hill 
business  :  and,  according  to  M.  D'Aubigne's  test,  that  this 
was  its  general  tendency. 

His  own  deterioration,  and  the  work  of  the  reformation 
were  both  gradual — they  went  hand  in  hand.    He  did  not 

*  Luihni  Episiolie  edit.  Wette.    i.  45,  46:  apud  D'Aubigne  i,  195. 
t  Epist.  r,  42.     26  Oct.  1516.     Apnd  D'Aub.  i,  194. 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  REFORMERS.  45 

at  first  seem  to  aim  at  any  cliange  in  the  doctrines  and 
institutions  of  the  Catholic  church  :  this  thought  was  de- 
veloped only  afterwards.  In  the  38th,  67th,  and  71st  of 
his  famous  95  i/ieses  published  against  Tetzel  on  the  1st 
of  Nov.  1517,  he  expressly  maintained  the  authority  of 
the  Pope,  and  the  Catholic  doctrine  on  indulgences.  He 
professed  only  to  aim  at  the  correction  of  abuses. 

It  is  a  mooted  question,  whether  jealousy  of  tlie  Domin- 
ican order,  which  had  been  entrusted  with  the  preaching 
of  the  indulgences,  to  the  exclusion  of  his  own  rival  order 
of  the  Augustinians,  influenced  him  in  his  first  attack  on 
Tetzel.  Such  seems  to  have  been  the  opinion  of  the  en- 
lightened pontiff  Leo  X,  who,  when  the  controversy  was 
first  reported  to  him,  remarked,  smiling,  "that  it  was  all 
a  mere  monkish  squabble  originating  in  jealousy."*  Such 
also  was  the  opinion  of  many  other  ancient  writers.  Cer- 
tain it  is  that  this  jealousy,  if  it  did  not  originate,  at  least 
fed  and  maintained  the  discussion.  Luther's  order,  with 
its  principal  members — Staupitz,  Link,  Lange,  and  others 
—were  his  warmest  advocates ;  while  the  Dominicans — 
Cajetan,  Hochstraet,  Eck,  and  Prierias — were  his  chief 
opponents.  The  Dominican  order  continued  faithful  to 
the  church;  the  Augustinians  of  Germany  abandoned  it 
almost  without  an  exception. 

Had  he  paused  at  the  proper  time,  had  he  con-tinued  to 
leave  untouched  the  venerable  landmarks  of  Catholic 
faith,  and  confined  himself  to  the  correction  of  local  dis- 
orders, all  Catholics  would  have  applauded  his  zeal.  In- 
stead of  being  reckoned  with  Arius,  Pelagius,  Wicliffe, 
and  other  heresiarchs,  he  would  then  have  found  a  niche 
in  the  temple  of  Catholic  fame,  with  an  Ambrose  and  a 
Gregory  VII,  and  a  Bernard  !  His  great  talents,  properly 
regulated,  might  have  been  immensely  beneficial  to  the 
church  of  God.     But,   standing  on  the  brink  ofapreci- 

*  Che  coiesie  erano  invidie  fraiesche.  Brandelli,  a  cotemporary  Do- 
minican writer.     Hist.  Trag.  pars  3. 


46  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

pice,  he  became  dizzy,  and  fell;  and,  like  Lucifer  of  old, 
he  drew  after  him  one-third  of  the  stars  of  God's  kingdom 
'  on  earth  !  The  old  Catholic  tree  bore  some  evil  fruits  of 
abuses — generally  local  and  unauthorized,  as  we  shall  see 
in  the  proper  place — and,  instead  of  pruning  it  discreetly 
and  nurturing  its  growth,  he  recklessly  lopped  off  all  its 
branches,  and  even  attempted  to  tear  it  up  by  the  roots, 
under  the  pretext,  forsooth,  of  making  it  bear  fruit ! ! 

The  question  has  often  been  asked, — was  Luther  sin- 
cere ?  We  have  no  doubt  of  his  sincerity  nor  of  his  piety, 
until  he  turned  reformer.  Perhaps,  too,  he  might  have 
been  sincere  during  the  first  year  or  two  of  his  reforma- 
tive career.  God,  only,  can  judge  his  heart;  and  it  would 
be  rash  in  us  to  attempt  to  fathom,  what  only  He  can  search 
with  unerring  accuracy.  Still  we  have  some  facts  where- 
on to  base  a  judgment  in  the  matter.  There  is  little 
doubt  that  he  had  some  miso-iving-s  at  first.  He  himself 
tells  us  that  ''  he  trembled  to  find  himself  alone  against 
the  whole  church."*  He  himself  testifies  on  this  subject 
as  follows  :  **  How  often  has  my  conscience  disturbed  me  1 
How  often  have  I  said  to  myself:  dost  thou  imagine  thy- 
self wiser  than  all  the  rest  of  mankind  ?  Barest  thou 
imagine  that  all  mankind  has  been  in  error  for  so  long  a 
series  of  years.''!  And  again:  "I  am  not  so  bold  as  to 
assert  that  I  have  been  guided  in  this  affair  by  God — 
upon  this  point  I  would  not  wish  to  undergo  the  judgment 
ofGod."t 

He  regretted  at  first,  that  his  Theses  had  become  so  pub- 
lic, and  had  made  so  great  a  stir  among  the  people.  **  My 
design,"  says  he,  "  was  not  to  make  them  so  public.  I 
wished  to  discuss  the  various  points  comprised  in  them 
with  some  of  our  associates  and  neighbors.  If  they  had 
condemned  them,  I  would  have  destroyed  them  ;  if  they 
had  approved  of  them,  I  would   have  published   them."§ 

*  "  Solus  primb  eram."    0pp.  in  Praef.  Edit.  V/ittenb. 

t  0pp.  Lutheri.  Germ.  Edit.  Geneva,  vol.  ii,  fol.  9.         J  lb.  vol.i,  364, 

§  Epist.  Collect.  Wette,  I,  p.  05. 


CHARACTER    OF    THE    REFORMERS.  4T 

*'  He  was  disturbed  and  dejected  at  the  thought" — of 
standing  alone  against  the  church — '*  doubts  which  he 
thought  he  had  overcome,  returned  to  his  mind  with  fresh 
force.  He  trembled  to  think  that  he  had  the  whole  au- 
thority of  the  church  against  him.  To  withdraw  himself 
from  that  authority — to  resist  that  voice  which  nations  and 
ages  had  humbly  obeyed — to  set  himself  in  opposition  to 
that  church  which  he  had  been  accustomed  from  his  in- 
fancy to  revere  as  the  mother  of  the  faithful :  he,  a  despi- 
cable monk — it  was  an  effort  beyond  human  power."* 

Luther  himself  tells  us  how  he  struggled  against  this 
feeling — how  he  lulled  to  rest  that  still  small  voice  of  con- 
science within  his  bosom.  "  After  having  triumphed,  by 
means  of  the  Scriptures,  over  all  opposing  arguments,  I 
at  last  overcame,  by  the  grace  of  Christ  (!)  with  much  an- 
guish, labor,  and  great  difficulty,  the  only  argument  that 
still  stopped  me,  namely,  ' /Aa/ /  mw5^  hear  the  church;^ 
for,  from  my  heart,  I  honored  the  church  of  the  Pope  as 
the  true  church,"  &/C.t  He  foresaw  the  dreadful  commo- 
tions of  which  he  would  be  the  author,  and  trembled  at  the 
thought !  *'  I  tremble — I  shudder  at  the  thought,  that  I 
may  be  an  occasion  of  discord  to  such  mighty  princes.":}: 
Still  he  recklessly  persevered! 

But  these  scruples  were  but  *'  a  remnant  of  popery  :" 
soon  he  succeeded  in  lulling  his  conscience  into  a  fatal 
security.  An  awful  calm  succeeded  the  storm.  The 
pride  of  being  at  the  head  of  a  strong  party — the  praises 
of  the  students  and  professors  of  the  Wittemberg  univer- 
sity— the  flattery  of  friends,  and  the  smiles  of  the  power- 
ful elector  of  Saxony — soon  quieted  the  qualms  of  con- 
science. The  following  facts — selected  almost  at  random 
from  a  mass  of  evidence  of  the  same  kind — may  con- 
tribute to  throw  additional  light  on  the  question  of  his 
sincerity. 

*  D'Aubign^  i,  257.  f  Luth.  0pp.  Lat.  i,  49. 

J  "  Inter  tantos  principes  dissidii  origo  esse  valde  horreo  et  iimeo."  Ep.  i, 93. 


48  d'aubigxe's  history  reviewed. 

On  the  30th  of  May,  1518,  Trinity  Sunday,  he  wrote  a 
letter  to  Leo  X,  of  which  the  following  is  the  concluding 
passage  :  *•  Therefore,  most  holy  father,  I  throw  myself 
at  the  feet  of  your  holiness,  and  submit  myself  to  you 
with  all  that  I  have  and  all  that  I  am.  Destroy  my  cause 
or  espouse  it;  pronounce  either  for  or  against  me;  take 
my  life  or  restore  it,  as  you  please :  I  will  receive  your 
voice  as  that  of  Christ  himself,  who  presides  and  speaks 
through  you.  If  I  have  deserved  death,  I  refuse  not  to 
die  :  the  earth  is  the  Lord's  and  the  fulness  thereof. 
May  he  be  praised  for  ever  and  ever.  May  he  maintain 
you  to  all  eternity !  Amen."*  The  sequel  tested  the 
sincerity  of  this  declaration.  But  even  while  he  was 
penning  it,  or  very  shortly  after,  he  preached  from  the 
pulpit  of  Wittemberg  against  the  power  of  the  pope  to  ful- 
minate excommunication,  and  he  was  engaged  in  circu- 
lating inflammatory  tracts  breathing  the  same  spirit.! 

In  1519  he  had  a  conference  with  Miltitz,  the  papal 
envoy,  to  whose  perfect  satisfaction  he  arranged  every 
thing,  promising  to  keep  silence  in  future,  as  to  the  ques- 
tions in  controversy.  The  good  nuncio  embraced  him, 
wept  with  joy,  and  invited  him  to  a  banquet,  at  which  he 
loaded  him  with  caresses.  While  this  scene  was  being 
acted,  Luther,  in  a  private  letter  to  a  friend,  called  him 
**a  deceiver,  a  liar,  who.  parted  from  him  with  a  Judas- 
like kiss  and  crocodile  tears  ;"J  and,  in  another  letter,  to 
Spalatin,  he  wrote :  "let  me  whisper  in  your  ear;  I  do 
not  know  whether  the  pope  is  Antichrist,  or  only  his 
apostle, "§  &c.  And  yet,  at  this  very  time,  on  the  3d 
March,  1519,  he   wrote   to  the   pope   in   these   words: 

*  Luth.  Epist.  vol.  i,  p.  121.    Edit.  Wette. 

t  "  Habui  nuper  sermonem  ad  populuni  de  virtuie  excommunicationiSy 
ubi  taxavi  obiter  tyrannidem  et  inscitiam  sordidissimi  illiiis  vulgi  qffici- 
alium  commissariorum  vicariorum,"  ^c.  Epist.  ad  WencesL  Link,  Julii, 
1518.  X  Epist.  Sylvio  Egrano,  2  Feb.  1519 

§  Epist.  Spalatino,  12  Feb.  1519.  See  Audin,  Life  of  Luther,  p.  91, 
and  D'Aubigne  ii,  15, 16. 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  REFORMERS.  49 

**Most  holy  father,  I  declare  it  in  the  presence  of  God, 
and  of  all  the  world,  I  never  have  sought,  nor  will  I  ever 
seek  to  weaken  by  force  or  artifice  the  power  of  the  Ro- 
man church  or  of  your  holiness.  I  confess  that  there  is 
nothing  in  heaven  or  earth  that  should  be  preferred  above 
that  church,  save  only  Jesus  Christ  the  Lord  of  all."* 
The  same  man  who  wrote  this,  impugned  the  primacy  of 
the  pope  the  very  same  year  in  the  famous  discussion 
with  Doctor  Eck  at  Leipsic  !  Was  he — could  he  be  sin- 
cere in  all  this  ?  But,  farther,  when  on  the  Sd  of  Oct. 
1520,  he  became  acquainted  with  the  bull  of  Leo  X,  by 
which  his  doctrines  were  condemned,  he  wrote  these  re- 
markable words  :  "  I  will  treat  it  as  a  forgery,  though  I 
know  it  to  be  genuine. "t 

The  following  evidence  will  greatly  aid  us  in  judging 
of  the  motives  which  guided  Luther  Ln  the  work  of  the 
reformation.  What  those  motives  were  he  surely  was 
the  best  judge.  Let  us  then  see  what  himself  tells  us  on 
this  subject.  In  his  famous  harangue  against  Karlstadt 
and  the  image  breakers,  delivered  from  the  pulpit  of  the 
church  of  All  Saints  at  Wittemberg,  he  plainly  says  that, 
if  his  recreant  disciples  will  not  take  his  advice,  "  he 
will  not  hesitate  to  retract  every  thing  he  had  either 
taught  or  written,  and  leave  them ;"  and  he  adds  emphat- 
ically :  **  this  I  tell  you  once  for  all.":j:  In  an  abridged 
confession  of  faith,  which  he  drew  up  for  his  partisans,  he 
says  in  a  vaunting  tone  :  "  I  abolished  the  elevation  of  the 
host,  to  spite  the  pope  ;  and  I  had  retained  it  so  long  to 
spite  Karlstadt."§  In  the  new  form  of  service,  which  he 
composed  as  a  substitute  for  the  mass,  he  says  in  a  simi- 
lar spirit :  "  if  a  council  were  to  order  the  communion  to 
be  taken  in  both  kinds,  he  and  his  would  only  take  it  in 
one  or  none  ;  and  would,  moreover,  curse  all  those  who 

*  Epist.  i,  p.  234,  f  D'Aubigne  ii,.  128. 

X  "Non  dubitabo  funem  reducere,  et  omnium  quag  aut  scrips!  aut 
docui  palinodiam  canere  :  hoc  vobis  dictum  esto."  Sermo  docens  abusus 
non  manibus,  &c.  §  Confessio  Parva. 

5 


50  d'aubione's  history  reviewed. 

should,  in  conformity  with  this  decree  of  the  council, 
communicate  in  both  kinds."*  Could  the  man  be  sincere 
who  openly  boasted  of  being  governed  by  such  motives  ? 

We  might  continue  to  discuss  the  question  of  his  sin- 
cerity, by  showing  how  he  said  one  thing  to  Cardinal  Ca- 
jetan,  and  in  the  diet  of  Worms  in  1521,  and  other  things 
precisely  contradictory  to  his  friends,  at  the  same  time  : 
how,  before  Cajetan,  he  appealed  first  to  the  universities,! 
then  to  the  pope,  better  informed, J  and  subsequently  to  a 
general  council  :§  and  how,  when  all  these  tribunals  had 
decided  against  him,  he  would  abide  by  none  of  their  de- 
cisions, his  reiterated  solemn  promises  to  the  contrary 
notwithstanding  !  Did  the  Spirit  of  God  direct  him  in  all 
these  tortuous  windings  of  artful  policy  ?  Do  they  mani- 
fest aught  of  the  uprightness  of  a  boasted  apostle  ?  Do 
they  not  rather  bespeak  the  wily  heresiarch — an  Arius,  a 
Nestorius,  or  a  Pelagius  ? 

We  say  nothing  at  present  of  his  consistency :  we 
speak  only  of  his  sincerity  and  common  honesty.  No  one 
ever  praised  his  consistency  :  he  was  confessedly  a  mere 
creature  of  impulse  and  of  passion,  constant  in  nothing 
but  in  his  hatred  of  the  pope  and  of  the  Catholic  church. 
His  inconsistencies  would  fill  a  volume,  and  a  mere  allu- 
sion to  them  would  swell  this  chapter  to  an  unwarrantable 
length.  II 

But  there  is  one  incident  in  the  private  life  of  Luther 
too  curious  to  be  passed  over  in  silence.  We  give  it  in 
the  words  of  M.  Audin,  with  his  references  to  cotempo- 
rary  historians.  *'  After  the  labors  of  the  day,  he  would 
walk  with  Catharine" — the  nun  whom  he  had  wedded— 
*•  in  the  little  garden  of  the  convent,  near  the  ponds  in 

*  Forma  Missse.  f  D'Aubigne  i,  357. 

X  Id.  i,  376.  §  Id.  i,  389,  and  again,  ii,  134. 

II  Those  who  may  be  curious  to  investigate  this  subject  will  find  abun- 
dant  facts  in  "  Audin's  Life  of  Luther."  We  direct  the  attention  of 
such  to  the  following  pages  :  81,  82,  85,  94,  95,  102,  110,  354,  472,  238, 
239,  240,  291,  312,  397,  398,  410,  430,  511,  &c.  &c. 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  REFORMERS.  51 

which  colored  fish  were  disporting ;  and  he  loved  to  ex- 
plain to  her  the  wonders  of  the  creation,  and  the  good- 
ness of  Him  who  had  made  it  with  his  hands.  One  even- 
ing the  stars  sparkled  with  unwonted  brightness,  and  the 
heavens  appeared  to  be  on  fire.  •  Behold  what  splendor 
those  luminous  points  emit,'  said  Catharine  to  Luther. 
Luther  raised  his  eyes.  *  What  glorious  light,'  said  he  : 
'  it  shines  not  for  us.^  *  Why  not  r'  replied  Bora  ;  *  have 
we  lost  our  title  to  the  kingdom  of  heaven  ?'  Luther 
sighed — •  Perhaps  so,'  said  he,  *  because  we  have  aban- 
doned our  state.'  '  We  ought  to  return  to  it,  then,'  said 
Catharine.  *  It  is  too  late — the  car  is  sunk  too  deeply ^"^ 
added  the  doctor.     The  conversation  dropped."* 

We  may  here  be  pardoned  for  making  a  digression,  to 
relate  a  somewhat  analogous  incident  of  Melancthon, 
Luther's  bosom  friend  and  cherished  disciple.  Lu- 
ther was  wont  to  flatter  him  immoderately,  and  the 
grateful  disciple  repaid  him  with  interest  in  the  same 
gilded  coin.  When  he  had  finished  his  Scholia  on  the 
Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  Luther  said  to  him,  after  having 
read  the  work :  *'  What  matter  is  it  whether  it  pleases 
you  or  not,  if  it  pleases  me  ?  I  tell  you  that  the  com- 
mentaries of  Origen  and  Jerome,  compared  with  yours, 
are  nothing  but  absurdities."!  Melancthon  too  had  his 
misgivings.  "  He  recalled  to  his  mind  the  image  of  his 
old  father,  George  Schwartzerd,  the  smith,  whose  lively 
faith  made  him  rise  often  at  night  to  offer  up  his  prayer 
to  God.  He  thought  of  the  last  prayer  of  his  dying  mo- 
ther, who,  raising  her  hands  towards  him,  said:  *  My 
son,  it  is  for  the  last  time  you  see  your  mother.  I  am 
about  to  die  :  your  turn  will  one  day  come,  when  you 
must  render  an  account  of  your  actions  to  your  Judge. 
You  know  that  1  was  a  Catholic,  and  that  you  have  in- 
duced me  to  abandon  the    religion  of  my  fathers.     Tell 

*  Georg  Joanneck — Norma  Vilfp.  Krans — Ovicul.  part  ii.  Col.  39. 
Apud  Aiuiin,  p.  3S2.  f  Apud  Andin,  p.  4-!5. 


52  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

me  now,  for  God's  Bake,  in  what  religion  I  ought  to  die.' 
Melancthon  answered  :  *  Mother,  the  new  doctrine  is 
the  more  convenient ;  the  other  is  the  more  secure.'  "* 
But  the  gentle  and  wavering  Melancthon  was  kept  in 
error  by  the  fascination  of  Luther,  who,  serpent-like,  had 
coiled  himself  around  his  very  heart-strings,  and  held 
him  captive ! 

Luther's  intellectual  attainments  were  of  a  high  order. 
As  a  popular  orator,  few  surpassed  him  in  ancient  or 
modern  times.  Nothing  could  withstand  the  foamy  tor- 
rent of  his  eloquence,  or  resist  the  effect  of  his  withering 
invective.  "  When  he  preached,  the  people  listened 
with  trembling  expectation  to  the  words  which  fell  from 
his  lips.  His  eye,  which  seemed  to  revolve  in  a  fiery 
orbit — his  large  and  seer-like  forehead — his  animated 
figure,  especially  when  much  excited — his  threatening 
gesture,  his  loud  voice  which  thundered  on  the  ear — the 
spirit  of  inspiration  with  which  he  seemed  possessed — all 
awakened  either  terror,  or  ecstatic  admiration  in  his 
auditory."! 

An  excellent  judge,  Frederick  Von  Schlegel,  passes  the 
following  opinion  on  his  mental  powers.  *'  In  the  first 
place,  it  is  evident  of  itself  that  a  man  who  accomplished 
so  mighty  a  revolution  in  the  human  mind,  and  in  his  age, 
could  have  been  endowed  with  no  common  powers  of  in- 
tellect, and  no  ordinary  strength  of  character.  Even  his 
writings  display  an  astonishing  boldness  and  energy  of 
thought,  united  with  a  spirit  of  impetuous,  passionate, 
and  convulsive  enthusiasm.  The  latter  qualities  are  in- 
deed not  very  compatible  with  a  prudent,  enlightened, 
and  dispassionate  judgment.''^ 

His  indefatigable  industry  and  untiring  energy  brought 
out  all  his  mental  resources.  He  was  restless  and  dis- 
quieted :  his  spirit  could  never  be   still,  after  it  had  lost 

*  ^gidius  Albertinus  iin  4.  Theil  des  Deutchcn  Lust  Hauses,  v.  143. 
Apud  Audin,  p.  447,  note. 

t  Audin,  p.  225.  J  Philosophy  of  History,  vol.  ii,  p.  204. 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  REFORMERS.  53 

the  peace  it  once  possessed  in  the  bosom  of  the  Catholic 
church.  His  mind  was  not  elevated  or  refined  ;  it  could 
not  appreciate  the  beauties  of  art  in  Rome,  which  he  vis- 
ited during  the  splendid  pontificate  of  Leo  X.  He  seems 
to  have  gleaned  nothing  else  from  his  journey  to  the 
"  eternal  city"  but  a  few  **  house-wife  stories  or  menda- 
cious anecdotes."* 

Much  has  been  said  of  his  courage,  and  of  his  disregard 
of  danger.  That  he  was  bold  and  daring,  we  do  not  pre- 
tend to  deny.  It  however  required  but  little  courage  to  be 
bold  in  his  interview  with  Cajetan,  or  at  the  diet  of  Worms 
in  1521.  With  the  safe-conduct  of  the  emperor,  and  the 
certain  protection  of  the  powerful  elector  of  Saxony,  he 
had  little  to  apprehend.  Besides,  any  man  might  become 
courageous,  at  least  at  times,  who  had  a  powerful  party  to 
sustain  him  in  every  thing.  Luther  was  certainly  most 
courageous  where  there  was  least  danger.  He  is  alto- 
gether a  different  character  at  the  diet  of  Worms  and  at 
Wittemberg.  He  could  hurl  defiance  at  popes,  emperors, 
and  princes,  when  these  were  far  off,  and  he  was  out  of 
their  reach  :  but  if  h«  had  any  thing  to  fear  from  them, 
the  scene  changed  altogether.  He  became  as  obsequious 
and  crouching  as  he  had  before  been  bold  and  reckless. 

How  meanly  sycophantic  was  he  on  all  occasions  to  the 
elector  of  Saxony  !  We  will  give  one  instance  of  this. 
When  Henry  VIII,  of  England,  complained  to  the  elec- 
tor of  Luther's  outrageous  insults  to  his  royal  majesty, 
the  elector  barely  intimated  the  fact  in  a  very  mild  and 
indirect  way  to  the  reformer,  without  even  insinuating  the 
propriety  of  making  any  reparation.  Luther  seized  his 
pen,  and  indited  the  following  singular  amende  honorable, 
•*  Most  serene  king!  most  illustrious  prince  !  I  should  be 
afraid  to  address  your  majesty,  when  I  remember  how 
much  I  must  have  offended  you  in  the  book  which,  under 
the  influence  of  bad  advice,  rather  than  of  my  own  feel- 

♦  See  Audin,  p.  135,  for  facts  under  this  head. 


54  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

ings,  I  published  against  you,  through  pride  and  vanity. 
...  I  blush  now,  and  scarcely  dare  to  raise  my  eyes  to 
you — I,  who,  by  means  of  these  workers  of  iniquity,  have 
not  feared  to  insult  so  great  a  prince — I,  who  am  a  worm 
and  corruption,  and  who  only  merit  contempt  and  dis- 
dain. ...  If  your  majesty  thinks  proper  that,  in  another 
work,  I  should  recall  my  words,  and  glorify  your  name, 
vouchsafe  to  transmit  to  me  your  orders.  I  am  ready  and 
full  of  good  will,"*  &c.  In  fact,  as  we  shall  hereafter 
prove,  Luther  was  indebted,  in  a  great  measure,  to  his 
sycophancy  to  princes  for  the  success  of  his  pretended 
reformation. 

His  passions  were  violent,  and  he  seems  to  have  made 
little  effort  to  govern  them.  His  violence  in  fact  often 
drove  him  to  the  very  verge  of  insanity.  His  cherished  dis- 
ciple, Melancthon,  deplored  his  furious  outbursts  of  tem- 
per. **  I  tremble  when  I  think  of  the  passions  of  Luther : 
they  yield  not  in  violence  to  the  passions  of  Hercules."! 
The  weak  and  timid  disciple  had  reason  to  tremble;  for 
he  testifies  that  Luther  occasionally  inflicted  on  him  per- 
sonal chastisement.! 

If  he  thus  treated  his  most  intimate  friends,  what  are 
we  to  suppose  his  conduct  was  towards  his  opponents 
and  enemies  ?  In  his  conferences  with  Cajetan  and  Mil- 
titz,  and  in  his  letter  to  Leo  X,  as  well  as  in  his  famous 
speech  at  Worms,  he  acknowledged  the  violence  of  his 
writings.  Still,  instead  of  correcting  this  fault,  it  seems 
to  have  grown  with  his  growth.  Hear  the  manner  in 
which  he  replies  to  Tetzel.  **  It  seems  to  me,  at  the 
sound  of  these  invectives,  that  I  hear  a  great  ass  braying 
at  me.  I  rejoice  at  it,  and  should  be  sorry  that  such  peo- 
ple should  call  me  a  good  Christian. "§ 

*  0pp.  Lutheri,  Tom.  ix,  p.  234.  Cochlasus,  p.  156,  Ulenberg,  p. 
502.     See  Audin,  p.  300. 

f  Melancthon  Epist.  ad  Theodorum. 

X  •*  j3b  ipso  colaphos  accept"  Epist.  ad  eundem. 

§  Luth.  0pp.  Leipsic,  xvii,  132. 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  REFORMERS.  55 

He  exhausts  all  the  epithets  of  the  coarsest  ribaldrj 
against  his  opponents,  no  matter  how  respectable.  We 
cannot  pollute  our  pages  with  a  tithe  of  his  foul  language. 
Behold  the  spirit  that  breathes  in  the  following  passage, 
in  which  he  speaks  of  Emser:  **  After  a  little  time  I  will 
pray  against  him ;  I  will  beseech  God  to  render  to  him 
according  to  his  works  :  it  is  better  that  he  should  perish, 
than  that  he  should  continue  to  blaspheme  Christ.  I  do 
not  wish  you  to  pray  for  this  wretch;  pray  for  us  alone."* 
His  adversaries  are  full  of  devils :  if  they  die,  the  devil 
has  strangled  them  ;  "  one  foams  at  the  mouth  ;  another 
has  the  horns  and  tail  of  Satan.  This  one  is  clad  as 
Antichrist ;  that  man  changed  into  block.  Oftentimes 
the  same  personage,  in  the  same  page,  is  travestied  as  a 
mule,  a  camel,  an  owl,  and  a  mole."t 

What  are  we  to  think  of  the  spirit  of  the  following  lan- 
guage, addressed  to  an  assembly  of  his  disciples.  "  My 
brethren,  be  submissive,  and  communicate  only  under  one 
kind.  If  you  do  what  I  say  to  you,  I  will  he  to  you  a 
good  master ;  I  will  be  to  you  a  father,  brother,  friend. 
I  will  obtain  graces  and  privileges  from  his  majesty  for 
you.  If  you  disobey  me,  I  declare  that  I  will  become 
your  enemy,  and  do  all  the  mischief  possible  to  this  city.":j: 
Volumes  might  be  filled  with  extracts  from  Luther's  writ- 
ings, replete  with  the  coarsest  vulgarity  :  the  specimens 
we  have  given  are  among  the  mildest. § 

It  is  usual  to  excuse  this  coarseness  of  Luther  by  the 
spirit  of  the  age  in  which  he  lived.  This  is  scarcely 
a  valid  apology  for  one  who  set  himself  up  as  a  reformer 
of  religion  and  of  morals,  and  who  claimed  a  divine  com- 
mission to  establish  a  new  sj'stem  of  doctrine.  Besides, 
we  look  in  vain  for  any  such  examples  of  vulgarity  among 
his  chief  opponents  in  the  Catholic  church  :  Emser,  Eck, 

*  Epist.  ad  Nicholas  Hausman,  26  April,  1520. 
t  Aud.  p.  118.  X  Table  Talk,  p.  376. 

§  For  more  instances  consult  the  following  pages  of  Audin,  136,  163, 
235,  237,  239,  240,  24S,  273,  2S5,  287,  288,  299,  &c.  &c. 


56  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

Cajetan,  Erasmus,  and  the  great  Leo  X,  were  far  too  re- 
fined to  employ  any  such  weapons.  The  reformers  seemed 
to  claim  a  special  privilege  in  this  way.  Let  us  exhibit 
a  few  specimens  of  the  manner  in  which  some  of  these, 
who  differed  from  Luther  in  their  doctrinal  views,  spake 
of  the  Saxon  reformer.     They  returned  railing  for  railing. 

**  This  man,"  says  one  of  his  cotemporary  reformers, 
**  is  absolutely  mad.  He  never  ceases  to  combat  truth 
against  all  justice,  even  against  the  cry  of  his  own  con- 
science.'^* "He  is  puffed  up,"  says  another,  **  with 
pride  and  arrogance,  and  is  seduced  by  Satan. "t  "  Yes," 
re-echoes  another,  "  the  devil  is  master  of  Luther  to  such 
a  degree  as  to  make  one  believe  that  he  wishes  to  gain 
entire  possession  of  him."J 

Luther  had  said  of  this  last  witness,  Zuingle,  •*  that  he 
was  possessed  not  by  one,  but  by  a  whole  troop  of  devils."^ 
The  church  of  Zurich  returned  the  compliment,  and  said 
of  Luther  that  *'he  wrote  all  his  works  by  the  impulse 
and  the  dictation  of  the  devil,  with  whom  he  had  dealing, 
and  who  in  the  struggle  seemed  to  have  thrown  him  by 
victorious  arguments."!! 

This  last  charge  was  not  without  foundation.  Luther 
himself  relates  his  "  conference  with  the  devil"  in  full, 
and  acknowledges,  at  the  close  of  it,  that  he  was  unable 
t^  answer  the  arguments  of  Satan  !^  The  devil,  as  was 
quite  natural,  argued  against  the  lawfulness  of  private 
masses,  which  Luther  feebly  defended :  and  so  con- 
vincing were  the  reasons  of  his  satanical  majesty,  that 
Luther  wrote  to  his  intimate  friend  Melancthon  imme- 
diately after:  **I  will  not  again  celebrate  private  masses 
for  ever."**     And  he  faithfully  kept  his  promise  !     It  was 

•  Hospinian.  t  CEcolampadiu3.  J  Zuingle. 

§  "  Non  ab  uno  d?mone  obsessum,  sed  d  toloL  c  iterva."  Lib.  contra 
Sacramentarios.  |!   Contra  Confessionem  Lutheri,  p.  Gl. 

f  In  his  treatise  dt  Missd.  privata.  See  the  conference  in  full  in  Au- 
din,  p.  181, segq. 

**  '•  Sed  et  ego  ampliua  non  faciam  missam  privatam  in  aicrnum" 
Ad  Melaneth.  Aug.  1,  1521. 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  REFORMERS.  57 

a  favorite  saying  of  his  that,  "  unless  we  have  the  devil 
hanging  about  our  necks,  we  are  but  pitiful  theologians  !"* 

Can  we  wonder  then  at  this  compliment  paid  him  by 
his  brother  Protestants  of  the  church  of  Zurich :  "  But 
how  strangely  does  this  fellow  let  himself  be  carried  away 
by  his  devils  !  How  disgusting  is  his  language,  and  how 
full  are  his  words  of  the  devil  of  hell  !"t  If  these  say- 
ings are  hard,  it  is  surely  not  our  fault :  Luther  bore  sim- 
ilar testimony  of  himself,  and  of  his  brother  Protestants, 
who  happened  to  differ  from  him  ;  and  these  did  but  re- 
tort on  him  the  same  compliments  !  We  are  but  the 
humble  witnesses  and  historians  of  the  conflict.  The 
reformers  are  certainly  unexceptionable  witnesses  of  each 
other's  characters.  Is  it  likely  that  God  selected  such 
instruments  to  reform  his  church  ? 

Luther's  standard  of  morality  was  about  as  high  as  that 
of  his  good  breeding.  St.  Paul  tells  us  that  a  Christian's 
"  conversation  is  in  heaven  :"J  Luther's,  on  the  contrary, 
was  not  only  earthly,  but  often  immoral  and  revolting  in 
the  extreme.  He  discussed,  in  all  their  most  disgusting 
details,  subjects  which  St.  Paul  would  not  have  so  much 
as  "  named  among  Christians. "§  His  famous  •'  Table 
Talk"  is  full  of  such  specimens  of  decency.  Wine  and 
women,  the  pope  and  the  devil,  are  the  principal  subjects 
of  which  the  reformer  liked  to  treat,  when  alone  with  his 
intimate  friends,  in  private  and  unreserved  conversation. 
For  fifteen  years — from  1525  to  1540 — he  was  a  nightly 
visiter  to  the  **  Black  Eagle"  tavern  of  Wittemberg, 
where  he  met  and  conversed,  over  the  ale-jug,  with  his 
bosom  friends,  Melancthon,  Amsdorf,  Aurifaber,  Justus 
Jonas,  Lange,  Link,  and  Staupitz. 

*  Nisi  diabolum  habemus  collo  affixum,  nihil  nisi  speculaiivi  theologi 
sumus."  Colloquia  Mensalia,  fol.  23.  See,  for  more  on  this  subject,  an 
article  on  "  demonology  and  the  reformation,"  published  in  the  ninth 
number  of  the  Catholic  Cabinet,  for  January,  1844. 

■{■  Church  of  Zurich — Contra  Cojifess,  Lutheri. 

X  Philip,  iii,  20.  §  Ephes.  v,  3. 


58  d'aubigne's  history  reviev/ed. 

His  disciples  carefully  collected  and  published  these 
conversations  of  their  *'  beloved  master,"  as  so  many 
oracles.  Erasmus  Albert,  one  of  them,  tells  us,  in  a 
work  against  Karlstadt,  that  "  these  table  discourses  of 
the  doctor  are  better  than  any  sermons  ;"  and  Frederick 
Mecum,  another  early  Lutheran,  calls  them  **  affecting 
conversations,  which  ought  to  be  diffused  among  the  peo- 
ple."* The  first  editions  of  the  work  were  published  in 
German  and  in  Latin  by  Mathesius,  Peter  Rebstock,  and 
Aurifaber,  all  zealous  disciples  of  the  reformer.t  If  there 
was  any  indiscretion  in  thus  revealingto  the  world  the  secret 
conversations  of  this  *'  ale  pope  of  the  '  Black  Eagle'  " 
with  his  boon  companions,  their  zeal  is  alone  to  blame 
for  the  exposure.  The  "  Table  Talk,"  or  Tisck  Reden, 
as  it  is  called  in  German,  revealing  as  it  does  the  heart  of 
Luther  in  his  most  unguarded  moments,  is  perhaps  the 
best  key  to  his  character. 

We  will  not  soil  our  pages  with  extracts  from  the  **  Ta- 
ble Talk,"  revealing  the  moral  turpitude  of  Luther.  Those 
who  may  doubt  the  truth  of  the  picture  we  have  drawn,  or 
who  may  feel  a  curiosity  in  such  matters,  are  referred  to 
the  work  itself — a  ponderous  folio  of  1350  pages,  besides 
an  index,  which  alone  would  make  a  volume  of  considera- 
ble size.ij:  Luther's  immorality  was  not,  however,  con- 
fined to  private  conversations  at  the  Black  Eagle  :  he  un- 
blusiiingly  and  sacrilegiouslj'  exhibited  it  in  the  very  sanc- 
tuary of  God's  holy  temple!  His  '*  sermon  on  matri- 
mony," delivered  in  the  German  language,  from  the  pul- 
pit of  the  public  church  of  All  Saints  at  Wittemberg,  en- 
ters into  the  most  revolting  details  upon  a  most  delicate 

•  Apud  x\udin,  p.  336. 

t  The  first  edition  was  that  of  Eisleben,  Luther's  birth  place,  in  1566, 
twenty  years  after  his  death.  It  was  speedily  followed  by  others,  at 
Frankfort  on  the  Oder  in  1567  and  1571 ;  at  Jena  in  1591 ;  at  Leipsic 
in  1G03  and  17C0  ;  at  Dresden  and  again  at  Leipsic  in  1723. 

X  M.  Audin  has  exhibited  copious  extracts  from  the  work,  p.  3S7, 
seqq. 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  REFORMERS.  59 

subject.  The  perusal  of  that  sermon,  even  in  the  French 
language — under  the  veil  of  which  the  translator  of  M. 
Audin  has  wisely  thought  proper  to  leave  it  partially  con- 
cealed— is  enough  to  raise  a  blush  on  the  cheek  of  mo- 
desty!  He  preached  this  sermon  in  1521,  immediately 
after  his  return  from  the  Castle  of  the  Wartburg,  where  he 
had  held  his  famous  **  conference  with  the  devil ;"  and  it 
is  worthy  of  such  a  master,  if  indeed  the  demon  himself, 
who  is  said  to  have  little  gusto  for  such  matters,  would 
not  have  blushed  at  the  obscenity  of  his  wanton  disciple ! 

We  may  as  well  remark  here,  en  passant,  that  it  was 
in  this  same  church,  about  the  same  time,  that  Luther  de- 
livered the  withering  invective  against  Karlstadt  and  some 
other  ultra  reformers,  who  had  torn  down  or  defaced  the 
statues  and  paintings  of  the  church,  during  his  absence 
at  the  Wartburg.  The  following  extract  from  this  ora- 
tion contains  a  boast  characteristic  of  Luther.  **  I  have 
done  more  mischief  to  the  pope,  even  while  I  slept,  or 
was  drinking  beer  with  Philip  and  Amsdorf,  than  all  the 
princes  and  emperors  put  together  !"* 

We  shudder,  while  we  record  the  following  horrid  blas- 
phemies, taken  from  his  •*  Table  Talk  ;"  and  we  should 
have  refrained  from  publishing  them,  had  he  not  set  him- 
self up  as  a  reformer  of  God's  church,  and  in  that  garb 
seduced  many.  *'  May  the  name  of  the  pope  be  d' — — d : 
may  his  reign  be  abolished;  may  his  will  be  restrained  ! 
If  I  thought  that  God  did  not  hear  my  prayer,  I  woul4 
address  the  devil. "t  Again  :  "  I  owe  more  to  my  dear 
Catharine  and  to  Philip,  than  to  God  himself.":|:  Finally  : 
**  God  has  made  many  mistakes.  I  would  have  given  him 
good  advice,  had  I  assisted  at  the  creation.  I  would  have 
made  the  sun  shine  incessantly  ;  the  day  would  have  been 
without  end."§  Could  human  wickedness  or  temerity 
have  gone  farther  than  this  ! 

*  0pp.  Lutheri,  Tom  vii.     Chytr,  Chron.  Sax.  p.  247. 

t  Table  Talk,  p.  213,  Edit.  Eisleben. 

X  Ibid.  p.  124.  §  Id.  Ed.  Frank,  part  ii,  fol.  20. 


60  d'aubigxe's  history  reviewed. 

It  is  not  a  little  remarkable,  that  from  the  date  of  his 
"conference  with  the  devil,"  Luther's  moral  career  was 
constantly  downward ;  until  at  last  he  reached  the  lowest 
grade  of  infamy,  and  became  utterly  steeped  in  vice. 
How  strongly  does  his  reckless  conduct  after  this  period, 
contrast  with  his  vigils,  long  prayers,  and  fasts,  while 
an  humble  monk  in  the  Catholic  church.  He  himself 
draws  the  contrast  in  his  own  forcible  manner.  He  tells 
us  that  while  a  Catholic,  **  he  passed  his  life  in  austeri- 
ties, in  watchings,  in  fasts  and  praying,  in  poverty,  chas- 
tity and  obedience."*  When  he  had  abandoned  Catholi- 
city, he  says  of  himself,  that  he  was  no  longer  able  to  re- 
sist the  vilest  propensities,!  and  that,  *'  as  it  did  not  de- 
pend upon  him  not  to  be  a  man,  so  neither  did  it  depend 
upon  him  to  be  without  a  woman.":}:  His  immorality  was 
generally  known,  and  he  himself  often  acknowledged  it. 
**  He  was,"  says  Sleidan,  a  Protestant  historian  of  the 
time,  "  so  well  aware  of  his  immorality,  as  we  are  informed 
by  his  favorite  disciple  (Melancthon,)  that  he  wished 
they  would  remove  him  from  the  office  of  preaching. "§ 
In  his  Table  Talk,  he  often  avowed  the  base  passions 
which  raged  within  him  ;  but  in  language  much  top  gross 
for  our  pages.  He  sometimes  complained,  that  *'  the  Wit- 
tembergers  who  supply  all  the  monks  with  wives,  will  not 
give  me  one.''Il 

Though  he  had  made  a  solemn  vow  of  chastity ;  and 
though  the  Holy  Scriptures  command  us  to  fulfil  our 
vows  ;^  yet  he  married  Catharine  Bora,  a  nun  bound  by 
similar  sacred  engagements !  He  hesitated  long  before  he 
took  this  step,  and  had  some  misgivings  even  •^vhiIe  taking 
it:  his  conscience   did  not  become  wholly  seared,  until 

*  Tom.  V.  0pp.  Coramentar.  in  c.  i  ad  Galatas  v,  14. 
t  "  Carnis  me<B  indomiice  uror  magnin  ignibus,  came,  libidine.'"    Apud 
Audin,  p.  355. 

X  0pp.  Tom.  V,  fol.  119.     Sermo  de  Mairimonio. 
§  Sleidan,  B.  ii.  An.  1520.     ||  See  Meyer— Ehren  Gedachiniss,  fol.  26. 
IT  Psalm  Ixxv,  12. 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  REFORMERS.  61 

some  time  afterwards  !  While  at  the  Wartburg  in  1521 — 
a  little  before  his  sutanical  interview — he  uttered  the  fol- 
lowing exclamation  of  horror,  on  being  shown  some  theses 
of  his  recreant  disciple,  Karlstadt,  in  which  this  man  al- 
lowed wives  to  priests  and  monks — "  Good  heaven  !  will 
our  Wittemberg  friends  allow  wives  even  to  monks ! 
Ah !  at  least  thej  will  not  make  me  take  a  wife."*  And 
again  he  says :  "  the  friars  have  of  their  own  accord 
chosen  a  life  of  celibacy — they  are  therefore  not  at  liberty 
to  withdraw  from  the  obligations  they  have  laid  them- 
selves under."!  Three  years  later,  in  1524,  he  said: 
"  God  may  change  my  purpose,  if  such  be  his  pleasure; 
but  at  present  I  have  no  thought  of  taking  a  wife.":}: 

And  yet,  but  a  few  short  weeks  elapsed,  and  he  espou- 
sed Catharine  Bora!  That  he  had  some  misgivings  on 
the  occasion,  would  appear  from  these  words  of  his  letter 
to  an  intimate  friend,  Wenceslaus  Link — **  Away  with 
your  scruples  :  let  the  Lord  be  glorified.  I  have  my  lit- 
tle Catharine.  I  belong  to  Bora,  and  am  dead"  to  the 
world"§ — and  to  conscience  (!).  To  Koeppe,  another  boon 
companion,  he  wrote  :  "  you  know  well  what  has  happen- 
ed to  me.  lam  caught  in  the  snares  of  a  woman.  God 
must  have  been  angry  with  me  and  with  the  world."|| 
Luther  at  first  felt  the  degradation  to  which  he  had  stoop- 
ed, by  violating  his  sacred  vows.  In  a  letter  to  his  inti- 
mate friend  Spalatin',  immediately  after  his  marriage,  he 
says,  *'  that  he  had  made  himself  so  vile  and  contemptible 
by  these  nuptials,  that  he  hopes  all  the  angels  will  laugh, 
and  all  the  demons  weep  !"^  And  yet  this  feeling  soon 
gave  way  to  a  conviction,  which  he  expressed  in  a  confi- 

*  At  mihi  non  ohlrudeni  uxorem.  Lib.  Epist.  ii,  p.  40.  D'Aubigne 
iii,  26.  t  If^^d'  P-  3^  ;  D'Aubigne,  ib  p.  26,  27. 

}  Epist.  ii,  p.  570,  30th  Nov.  1524. 

§  Epist.  Tom.  ii,  p.  245.  Wittemb.  edit.  Seckendorf,  1.  i,  s.  63, 
clxxxii.  il  Ibid.  Tom.  ii,  p.  903.    Edit.  Altenb. 

IF  Epistola  Spalatino.  "  Sic  me  vilem  et  contemptura  his  nuptii? 
feci,  ut  angelos  ridere,  et  demones  flere  sperem." 

6 


62  D'ArBIONE's    HISTORY    RKVILWED. 

dential  letter  to  another  friend,  "  that  God  himself  had 
inspired  him  with  the  thought  of  marrying  that  nun — Ca- 
tharine de  Bora!  !"*  Could  infatuation  go  farther  than 
this  ? 

The  whole  world  was  astounded  or  shocked  at  this  con- 
duct of  the  Saxon  reformer.  The  Catholics  viewed  it  as 
open  sacrilege  :  many  Protestants  were  saddened  and 
gcandalized.  Among  these  was  Melancthon,  who  deplo- 
red this  conduct  of  his  master  in  a  letter  to  Camerarius  ; 
but  with  singular  inconsistency  adds  :  "  Wo,  however,  to 
him  who  would  reject  the  doctrine,  on  account  of  the  sins 
of  the  teacher."  The  accomplished,  but  wavering  Eras- 
mus, viewed  it  as  but  another  proof  of  his  caustic  remark, 
•'  that  the  tragedy  of  the  reformation  ever  terminated  in 
the  comedy  of  marriage."  In  a  letter  written  on  the  oc- 
casion, he  says:  "this  is  a  singular  occurrence;  Luther 
has  thrown  off  the  philosopher's  cloak,  and  has  just  mar- 
ried a  young  woman  of  twenty-six — handsome,  well-made, 
and  of'a  good  family,  but  who  has  no  dowry,  and  who  for 
some  time  had  ceased  to  be  a  vestal.  The  nuptials  were 
most  auspicious ;  for  a  few  days  after  the  hymeneal  songs 
were  sung,  the  bride  was  delivered  !  Luther  revels,  while 
a  hundred  thousand  peasants  descend  to  the  tomb!"t 
The  circumstance  here  developed  may  perhaps  explain 
Luther's  haste  in  the  matter.  All  Germany  was  aroused 
by  the  tidings  of  Luther's  marriage.  His  opponents,  as 
well  as  those  who  were  indifferent,  laughed  at  his  expense 
through  all  the  notes  of  the  gamut !  Sonnets,  epigrams, 
satires,  epithalamia  and  caricatures,  poured  in  on  his  de- 
voted head  like  a  hail  storm,  from  every  quarter:  among 
these,  the  best  perhaps  were  those  of  Doctors  Emser  and 
Wimpina.     The  former  extemporized  an  epiihalamium  in 

*  Epist.  Wenceslao  Link. 
+  Epist.  Danieli  Manckis    Ulmcnsi.     Oct.  6,    1525.     This  letter  of 
Erasmus  has  given  rise  to  an  animated  controversy  between  the  friends 
and  opponents  of  Luther.    Those  who  may  wish  to  see  both  sides,  are 
referred  to  Audio,  p.  362,  seqq. 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  REFORMERS.  63 

.Latin  verse,  and  set  it  to  music  :  *•  Farewell !  cowl,  prior, 
guardian,  abbot:  adieu  to  all  vows:  adieu  to  matins  and 
prayers,  fear  and  shame:  adieu  to  conscience!"*  The 
latter  is  a  wood-cut  caricature,  exhibiting,  in  withering 
and  ludicrous  contrast,  the  marriage  of  Luther  and  the 
divine  injunction:  "  Vow  ye,  and  pay  to  the  Lord  your 
God" — Vovete,  et  reddite  Domino  Deo  tuo.'f 

Luther  seems  to  have  retired  for  a  time  from  the  pitiless 
peltings  of  the  storm—"  dead  to  the  world,  with  his  little 
Catharine" — but  he  again  emerged  from  solitude,  more 
reckless  and  violent  than  ever.  As  Erasmus  remarked, 
**  marriage  had  not  tamed  him  !"  Indeed,  it  would  seem 
that  "  his  little  Catharine,"  gave  him  no  U,'tle  trouble  and 
annoyance.  She  sometimes  played  the  part  of  the  scold 
and  the  vixen.  He  used  to  call  her — after  the  honey-moon 
of  course — '*  my  master  Ketha":}: — poor  man  ! 

Before  he  left  the  Catholic  church,  he  was  temperate 
and  abstemious:  during  the  last  twenty-one  years  of  his 
life — from  his  marriage  in  1525  to  his  death  in  1546 — he 
was  much  given  to  the  luxuries  of  the  table,  and  drank 
beer  copiously,  if  not  to  excess.  Maimbourg  and  others 
tell  us,  that  he  lost  the  use  of  reason  at  many  of  the  sump- 
tuous banquets,  in  which  he  was  wont  to  revel  with  his 
intimate  friends  ;  and  Seckendorf,  his  warmest  admirer, 
admits  that  "  he  used  food  and  drink  joyfully,  and  indulg- 
ed in  jokes"§ — even  on  the  eve  of  bis  death.     In  fact,  so 

*  Cuculla,  vale,  capa! 
Vale  prior,  custos,  abbal 
Cum  obedientia, 
Cumjubilo. 
Ite  voia,  preces,  horse. 
Vale  timor  cum  pudore  : 
Vale  conscientia !  &c. 

CocMmis  in  J d.  Luihcri,i6\.  lis. 
t  Psalm  Ixxv,  12 ;  Prot.  vers.  Ixxvi,  12.     The  only  answer  Luther 
made  to  Wimpina,  was  this  :  "  Let  the  sow  gntnt." 
X  "  JJomi?nis  mens  Ketha." 
^"Ciboet  potn  Mlariier  usvs  est;  ei  faceins  indnhit."     Seckendorf, 
Commentar.  de  Lutheranismo. 


64  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

little  was  he  in  the  habit  of  restraining  his  passions,  or  of 
concealing  his  vices,  that  they  all  stood  out  in  bold  relief 
— strong  even  in  death  ! 

His  death  was  in  every  respect  worthy  of  his  life  since 
he  had  turned  reformer.  His  last  words  contained  a  refu- 
sal to  retract  his  errors,  and  a  declaration  that  he  wished 
to  die  as  he  had  lived  !  We  will  give  a  few  incidents  con- 
nected with  his  last  moments.  "  I  am  ready  to  die,"  he 
said,  ''whenever  it  shall  please  God  my  Saviour;  but  I 
would  wish  to  live  till  Pentecost,  that  I  might  stigmatize 
before  the  whole  world  this  Roman  beast,  whom  they  call 
the  pope,  and  with  him  his  kingdom."  His  pains  becom- 
ing very  acute,  he  said  one  day  to  his  nurse:  "I  wish 
there  was  a  Turk  here  to  kill  me."  Hear  how  he  prays, 
while  suffering:  "my  sins — death,  the  devil — give  me  no 
rest!  What  other  consolation  have  I  but  thy  grace,  O 
God  !  Ah  !  let  it  not  abandon  the  most  miserable  of  men, 
the  greatest  of  sinners  !"  Witness  again  the  spirit  of  the 
following  characteristic  orison :  '*  O  my  God !  how  I 
would  wish  that  Erasmus  and  the  Sacramentarians,  did  for 
a  moment  experience  the  pains  that  I  suffer:  then  I  would 
become  a  prophet  and  foretell  their  conversion."* 

After  the  sumptuous  feast  alluded  to  above,  he  gave 
vent  to  his  humor  in  the  following  strain,  the  subject  of 
which  is  the  devil — his  usual  hobby:  "  my  dear  friends, 
we  cannot  die,  till  we  have  caught  hold  of  Lucifer  by  the 
tail!  I  saw  his  back  yesterday  from  the  castle  turrets. "t 
The  discourse  subsequently  turned  on  the  study  of  the 
Scriptures,  and  Luther  made  the  following  declaration, 
which  is  valuable  as  a  death-bed  confession.  *'  It  is  no 
trifle  to  understand  the  Scriptures.  Five  years'  hard  la- 
bor will  be  required  to  understand  Virgil's  Georgics  : 
twenty  years'  experience  to  be  master  of  Cicero's  Epistles  : 
and  a  hundred  years'  intercourse  with  the  prophets  Elias, 

•  For  more  facts  of  a  similar  kind,  see  Aiidin,  p.  482,  seqq. 
t  Rareburgius,  in  his  MS.     Seckendorf.  lib.  iil,  s.  36,  cxxxiv. 


CHARACTER    OF    TIIK    REFOR.IIKRS.  ^5 

Eliseus,John  the  Baptist,  Christ  and  the  apostles,  to  know 
the  Scriptures  ! — Alas!  poor  human  nature  !"*  And  yet 
the  last  twenty-nine  years  of  his  life  had  been  devoted  to 
the  promulgation  of  the  cardinal  principle  of  his  new  re- 
ligion— that  every  one  was  fully  competent  to  understand 
the  Scriptures  by  his  own  private  judgment !  Well  may 
we  exclaim — **  Alas  !  poor  human  nature  !" 

Such  was  Martin  Luther,  after  he  had  left  the  holy 
Catholic  church  !  Compare  his  character  then  with  what 
it  was  before  that  event ;  and  then  apply  M.  D'Aubigne's 
test  given  above,  and  the  conclusion  is  irresistible — that 
he  was  not  a  chosen  instrument  in  the  hands  of  God  for 
reforming  the  church,  which  *'  He  had  purchased  with  His 
blootl.'l-  Before  he  left  the  church,  he  was,  as  we  have 
seen,  humble,  patient,  pious,  devoted,  chaste,  scrupulous — 
afterwards,  he  was,  in  every  one  of  these  particulars,  di- 
rectly the  reverse!  Does  God  choose  such  instruments 
to  do  his  work  ?  Was  Moses,  was  Aaron,  were  the  apos- 
tles such  characters?  He,  like  the  apostles,  forsooth! 
They  were  humbla,  chaste,  patient,  temperate  and  modest: 
he  was  proisd,  immoral,  impatient  and  shameless.  They 
had  a  mission  from  God,  and  proved  it  by  miracles:  he 
had  not  the  one,  nor  did  he  claim  the  other;  though  chal- 
lenged on  the  subject,  by  the  Zuinglians  and  by  the  Ana- 
baptists.:]: Therefore  God  did  not  send  him — and  all  of 
M.  D'Aubigne's  canting  theory  falls  to  the  ground.  What 
must  the  "lock"  of  the  reformation  be,  if  Luther's  cha- 
racter be  the  **key" — which  suits  its  internal  structure? 

It  would  be  easy  to  show,  by  unquestionable  evidence, 
that  the  other  reformers  were  not  a  whit  better  than  Lu- 
ther.    We  have  seen  already  what  testimony  they  bore  to 

*  Floriraond  Remond,  b.  iii,  c.  ii,  fol.  287.   Laign,  vita  Lutheri,fol.  4. 

t  Acts  XX,  28. 

X  See  Audin,  p.  239.  Stiibncr,  an  Anabaptist,  asked  him  to  produce 
his  miracles.  He  was  silent,  though  a  little  before,  he  had  made  the 
very  same  challenge  to  Karlstadt,  and  renew«d  it  afterwards  to  the 
Zuinglians  ! 

6* 


66  d'aubignb's  history  reviewed. 

the  character  of  each  other ;  and  we  shall  have  occasion  to 
recur  to  the  subject  in  the  sequel  of  our  essay.  "The 
historian,  Hume,  has  truly  characterized  the  reformers 
as  *  fanatics  and  bigots;'  but  with  no  less  justice  might  he 
have  added,  that  they  were  (with  one  exception  joerAa/35)* 
the  coarsest  hypocrites  :t  men,  who,  while  professing  the 
most  high-flown  sanctity  in  their  writings,  were  in  their 
conduct,  brutal,  selfish  and  unrestrainable ;  who,  though 
pretending,  in  matters  of  faith,  to  adopt  reason  as  their 
guide,  were  in  all  things  else,  the  slaves  of  the  most  vul- 
gar superstition;  and  who,  with  the  boasted  right  of  judg- 
ment forever  on  their  lips,  passed  their  lives  in  a  course 
of  mutual  recrimination  and  persecution ;  and  transmitted 
the  same  warfare  as  an  heir-loom  to  their  descendants.  Yet, 
'these  be  thy  Gods,'  O  Protestantism! — these  the  coarse 
idols  which  heresy  has  set  up  in  the  niches  of  the  saints 
and  fathers  of  old,  and  whose  names,  like  those  of  all  for- 
mer such  idols,  are  worn  like  brands  upon  the  foreheads 
of  their  worshippers.''^  Whoever  will  read  attentively 
the  veridical  history  of  the  reformation,  will  admit  the 
truth  of  this  picture  drawn  by  the  great  Irish  bard. 

*  Melancthon. 

t  Bucer  admits  the  justice  of  this  reproach.  Epist.  ad  Calvin. 
}  "Travels  of  an  Irish  Gentleman,"  &c.  p.  200,  201.    Doyle,  New 
York,  1835. 


Part   II 


CHAPTER    II. 


CHARACTER    OF    THE    REFORMATION- 
EXAMINED. 

The  question  stated — M.  D'Aubigne's  opinion — Mother  and  daughter — 
Argumentum  ad  hominem — Jumping  at  a  conclusion — Second 
causes — Why  Germany  was  converted — Why  Italy  and  Spain  were 
not— Luther  and  Mohammed — Reasoning  by  contraries — Why 
France  continued  Catholic. 

We  have  seen  what  was  the  character  of  the  chief  in- 
struments who  brought  about  the  reformation  in  Germany; 
we  are  now  to  examine  what  was  the  character  of  the 
work  itself,  and  how  it  was  effected.  Were  the  reasons 
assigned  as  the  great  motives  for  this  alleged  reform  in 
religion,  sufficient  to  justify  it,  according  to  the  judgment 
of  impartial  men  ?  Were  the  means  employed  for  bringing 
it  about  such  as  would  lead  us  to  believe,  that  it  was  re- 
ally a  change  for  the  better ;  and  were  they  such  as  God 
would  or  could  have  approved  and  sanctioned  ?  Finally, 
weighing  these  motives  and  these  means,  and  making  all 
due  allowance  for  the  condition  of  the  times,  was  there 
any  thing  very  remarkable  in  the  rapid  progress  of  the 
reformation  .?  We  will  endeavor  to  solve  these  inquiries 
in  the  following  chapters. 

M.  D'Aubigne  devoutly  believes,  that  the  reformation 
was  not  only  sanctioned  by  God,  but  that  it  was  directly 
his  work.  Let  us  hear  how  he  discourses  on  the  subject. 
"Christianity  and  the  reformation  are,  indeed,  the  same 
revolution,  but  working  at  different  periods,  and  in  dis- 


68  d'aubigne*s  history  reviewed. 

similar  circumstances.  They  differ  in  secondary  features 
— thev  are  alike  in  their  first  lines,  and  leading  character- 
istics. The  one  is  the  reappearance  of  the  other.  The 
former  closes  the  old  order  of  things — the  latter  begins 
the  new.  Between  them  is  the  middle  age.  One  is  the 
parent  of  the  other;  and  if  the  daughter  is  in  some  re- 
spects inferior,  she  has  in  others,  characters  altogether 
peculiar  to  herself."*  In  opposition  to  this  flattering 
theory,  we  will  endeavor  to  prove  that  the  reformation 
differs  from  Christianity,  not  only  "  in  secondary  features," 
but  also  "in  its  first  lines  and  leading  characteristics;" 
and  that,  if  the  former  was  the  daughter  of  the  latter,  she 
was  a  most  recreant  and  degenerate  daughter  truly,  with 
scarcely  one  lineament  in  common  with  her  parent.  Ve- 
rily, she  had  **  characters  altogether  peculiar  to  herself," 
and  she  was  not  only  "  in  some  respects,". but  in  almost 
every  thing,  not  only  "  inferior"  to,  but  the  direct  oppo- 
site, of  her  alleged  parent! 

According  to  M.  D' Aubigne,  one  of  these  '*  characters 
of  the  reformation  peculiar  to  itself,"  was  "the  sudden- 
ness of  its  action."  He  illustrates  the  rapidity  with  which 
the  reformation  was  established,  by  the  figure  employed 
by  our  blessed  Saviour  to  denote  the  suddenness  of  his 
second  comino;:  •♦  As  the  lightninfj;  coraeth  forth  from  the 
west  and  shineth  to  the  east,  so  shall  also  the  coming  of 
the  Son  of  man  be."  **  Christianity,"  he  says,  "  was  one 
of  those  revolutions,  which  was  slowly  and  gradually 
prepared  ;"  the  reformation,  on  the  contrary,  was  instan- 
taneous in  its  effect:  **  a  monk  speaks — and  in  half  of 
Europe  the  power  and  glory" — of  the  church  of  Rome — 
"crumbles  in  the  dust!"t  This  rapidity  he  views  as  a 
certain  evidence,  that  the  reformation  was  the  work  of  God. 
For  *'  how  could  an  entire  people — how  could  so  many 
nations,  have  so  rapidly  performed  so  difficult  a  work  ? 
How  could  such  an  act  of  critical  judgment,''  on  the  neces- 

*  Preface,  p.  iv.  f  Ibid. 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  REFORMATION.  69 

sity  and  measure  of  the  reform,  "kindle  the  enthusiasm 
indispensable  to  great,  and  especially  to  sudden  revolu- 
tions ?  But  the  reformation  was  a  work  of  a  very  different 
kind  ;  and  this,  its  history  will  prove.  It  was  the  pouring 
forth  anew  of  that  life  which  Christianity  had  brought  into 
the  world."* 

We  trust  to  make  it  appear  in  the  sequel,  that  the  ra- 
pidity with  which  the  reformation  was  diffused,  was  the 
result  of  "  the  pouring  forth"  of  a  different  spirit  alto- 
gether. Meantime,  we  would  beg  leave  to  ask  M.D'Au- 
bigne  to  answer  this  argumentum  ad  hominem.  If  the 
suddenness  of  the  reformation  be  a  proof  that  it  was  brought 
about  by  the  *'  pouring  forth  anew  of  that  life  which 
Christianity  had  brought  into  the  world  ;"  would  not  the 
contrary  feature  of  Christianity — its  gradual  operation! — 
be  a  conclusive  evidence,  that  this  system  was  not  the 
work  of  God  ?  And  if  this  argument  be  not  valid,  what 
truth  is  there  in  M.  D'Aubigne's  whole  theory  ?  Would 
not  his  reasoning,  if  reduced  to  the  strict  laws  of  logic, 
rather  prove  that  the  reformation,  differing  avowedly  as 
it  does  in  an  essential  feature  from  Christianity,  was  not 
effected  by  the  agency  of  the  Divine  Spirit,  but  was  the 
mere  result  of  violent  human  passions,  which  usually 
bring  about  sudden  revolutions,  both  in  the  religious  and 
in  the  social  system  ? 

It  is  curious  to  trace  the  farther  development  of  his  the- 
ory. *'  Two  considerations  will  account  for  the  rapidity 
and  extent  of  this  revolution.  One  of  these  must  be  sought 
in  God,  the  other  among  men.  The  impulse  was  given 
by  an  unseen  hand  of  power,  and  the  change  which  took 
place  was  the  w^ork  of  God.  This  will  be  the  conclusion 
arrived  at  by  every  one  who  considers  the  subject  with  im- 
partiality and  attention,  and  does  not  rest  in  a  superficial 
view.     But  the  historian  has  a  farther  office  to  perform — 

*  Preface,  p.  iv. 

t  This  we  merely  suppose  with  M.  D'Aubigne,  who  gives  no  proof 
of  its  truth. 


70  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

Gofl  acts  bj  second  causes.  Many  circumstances,  which 
have  often  escaped  observation,  gradually  prepared  men 
for  the  great  transformation  of  the  sixteenth  century,  so 
that  the  human  mind  was  ripe  when  the  hour  of  its  eman- 
cipation arrived."*  Now,  we  have  given  no  little  atten- 
tion to  the  subject,  and  we  claim  at  least  as  much  im- 
partiality as  our  historian  .of  •*  the  great  reformation  ;" 
and  yet,  for  the  life  of  us,  we  can  arrive  at  no  such  con- 
clusion :  we  have  reached  one  precisely  contrary.  And 
the  reasons  which  have  forced  us  to  make  this  inference 
are  so  many  and  so  cogent,  that  we  are  even  under  the 
conviction,  that  all  will  agree  with  us,  who  *' consider  the 
subject  with  impartiality  and  attention,  and  do  not  rest  in 
a  superficial  view." 

In  examining  the  secondary  causes,  by  which  God 
**  gradually  prepared  men  for  the  great  transformation  of 
the  sixteenth  century,"  our  historian  assigns  a  prominent 
place  to  Germany.  *' As  Judea,  the  birth-place  of  our 
religion,  lay  in  the  centre  of  the  ancient  world,  so  Ger- 
many was  situate  in  the  midst  of  Christian  nations.  She 
looked  upon  the  Netherlands,  England,  France,  Switzer- 
land, Italy,  Hungary,  Bohemia,  Poland,  Denmark,  and 
the  whole  of  the.  north.  It  was  fit  that  the  principle  of 
life  should  develop  itself  in  the  heart  of  Europe,  that  its 
pulses  might  circulate  through  all  the  arteries  of  the  body 
the  generous  blood  designed  to  vivify  its  members. "t 

He  alleges  the  following  most  singular  reasons  why  Ger- 
many was  *'  ripe"  for  the  reformation  :  "  the  Germans  had 
received  from  Rome  that  element  of  modern  civilization, 
the  faith.  Instruction,  legislation — all,  save  their  courage 
and  their  weapons,  had  come  to  them  from  the  sacerdotal 
city.  Strong  tics  had  from  that  time  attached  Germany 
to  the  papacy."!  Therefore  was  she  *'  ripe"  for  a  rup- 
ture with  Rome  !  This  connexion  witli  Rome  "  made  the 
reaction  more   powerful  at  the  moment  of  avvakening."§ 

*  Preface,  p.  v.     f  B"'^!^'  '-  P-  "«•       X  Tb.  pp.  78,  7f».      >^  lb.  p.  7J>. 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  REFORMATION.  71 

Again  :  **  the  j:;ospel  had  never  been  offered  to  Germany 
in  its  primitive  purity;  the  first  missionaries  who  visited 
the  country  gave  to  it  a  religion  already  vitiated  in  more 
than  one  particular.  It  was  a  law  of  the  church,  a  spir- 
itual discipline,  that  Boniface  and  his  successors  carried 
to  the  Trisons,  the  Saxons  and  other  German  nations. 
Faith  in  the  *  good  tidings,'  that  faith  which  rejoices  the 
heart  and  makes  it  free  indeed,  had  remained  unknown 
to  them."*'  Therefore,  when  Luther  and  his  brother  re- 
formers announced  these  **  good  tidings"  in  all  their  pu- 
rity for  the  first  time — fraught  too  with  endless  variations 
and  contradictions — the  Germans  were  prepared  for  the 
*•  awakening,"  and  received  the  Gospel  with  enthusiasm! ! 
Truly,  M.  D'Aubigne  loves  to  reason  by  contraries,  and 
to  startle  his  readers  by  palpable  absurdities ! 

No  less  curious  is  his  reason  for  explaining  why  the 
Italians  did  not  receive  the  "  Gospel."  "  And  if  the  truth 
was  destined  to  come  from  the  north,"  he  says,  *'  how  could 
the  Italians,  so  enlightened,  of  so  refined  a  taste  and  so- 
cial habits,  so  delicate  in  their  own  eyes,  condescend  to 
receive  any  thing  at  the  hands  of  the  barbarous  Germans  } 
Their  pride,  in  fact,  raised  between  the  reformation  and 
themselves  a  barrier  higher  than  the  Alps.  But.  the 
very  nature  of  their  mental  culture  was  a  still  greater  ob- 
stacle than  the  presumption  of  their  hearts.  Could  men, 
who  admired  the  elegance  of  a  well  cadenced  sonnet  more 
than  the  majestic  simplicity  of  the  Scriptures,  be  a  propi- 
tious soil  for  the  seed  of  God's  word  ^  A  false  civilization 
is,  of  all  conditions  of  a  nation,  that  which  is  most  repug- 
nant to  the  Gospel. "t  Those  who  have  read  Roscoe's 
"Life  and  pontificate  of  Leo  X,"  will  greatly  question 
the  accuracy  of  this  picture  of  Italian  civilization. 

We  shall  prove  in  the  sequel  that  before,  and  during 
t^^e  time  of  the  reformation,  Italy  did  much  more  than 
Germany,  to  evidence   her  admiration  "for  the  majestic 

*  Ibid.  p.  73.  t  Ibid.  p.  84. 


72  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

simplicity  of  the  Scriptures."  At  present  we  will  barely 
remark,  that  the  gist  of  M.  D'x\ubigne's  theory  consists  in 
the  assertion,  that  Italy  was  too  "enlightened,"  too  "re- 
fined in  taste  and  social  habits,"  too  "  delicate  in  her  own 
eyes,"  and  too  *'  proud  and  presumptuous"  to  receive  the 
"Gospel;"  while  Germany,  being  on  the  contrary  less 
enlightened,  less  refined,  and  more  corrupt  in  doctrine  and 
morals,  was  a  more  genial  soil — just  the  one,  in  fact,  which 
was  most  "ripe"  for  its  reception,  and  most  likely  to  fos- 
ter its  growth!!  We  award  him  cheerfully  the  whole 
benefit  of  this,  his  speculation  on  the  "  preparation  of  the 
Gospel." 

To  confirm  his  theory  still  farther,  he  thus  accounts  for 
the  singular  fact  that  Spain  did  not  embrace  Protestantism. 
"  Spain  possessed,  what  Italy  did  not — a  serious  and  noble 
people,  whose  religious  mind  has  resisted  even  the  stern 
trial  of  the  eighteenth  century,  and  of  the  revolution 
(French),  and  maintained  itself  to  our  own  days.  In 
every  age  this  people  has  had  among  its  clergy  men  of 
piety  and  learning,  and  it  was  sufficiently  remote  from 
Rome  to  throw  off  without  difficulty  her  yoke.  There  are 
few  nations  wherein  one  might  more  reasonably  have 
hope^  for  a  revival  of  that  primitive  Christianity,  which 
Spain  had  probably  received  from  St.  Paul  himself.  And 
yet  Spain  did  not  then  stand  up  among  the  nations.  She 
was  destined  to  be  an  example  of  that  word  of  the  divine 
wisdom,  *  the  first  shall  be  last.'  "*  What  a  pity  !  We 
have  little  doubt  ourselves,  that  these  were  precisely 
among  the  principal  reasons,  why  Spain  did  not  stand  up 
among  "the  nations,"  who  revolted  against  Catholicity  in 
the  sixteenth  century :  and  her  having  passed  unscathed 
through  this  fiery  ordeal,  may  also  serve  to  explain  to  us, 
how  she  was  enabled  "  to  resist  even  the  stern  trial  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  and  of  the  revolution."  Her  people 
were  too  "serious  and  too  noble" — their  mind  was  too 

^  Ibid.  p.  S5. 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  REFORMATION.  73 

"religious" — and  their  clergy  had  too  much  "piety  and 
learning" — to  allow  them  to  be  carried  away  by  the  novel 
vagaries  of  Protestantism. 

Among  the  "various  circumstances  which  conduced  to 
the  deplorable  result" — of  her  remaining  Catholic,  M. 
D'Aubigne  mentions  her  *' remoteness  from  Germany,'' 
the  *^  hearV  of  Europe — "an  eager  desire  after  riches"  in 
the  new  world — the  influence  of  her  "  powerful  clergy" — 
and  her  military  glory,  which  had  just  risen  to  its  zenith, 
at  the  conquest  of  Grenada  and  the  expulsion  of  the  Moors. 
In  reference  to  this  last  cause,  he  asks  emphatically : 
"  how  could  a  people  who  had  expelled  Mahomet  from 
their  noble  country,  allow  Luther  to  make  way  in  it  ?''* 
This  question  is  at  least  characteristic  !  Was  there  then, 
in  the  ideas  of  the  "  serious  and  noble"  Spaniards,  so  lit- 
tle difference  between  Luther  and  Mohammed  ! 

"  Few  countries,"  he  says,  "  seemed  likely  to  be  bet- 
ter disposed  than  France  for  the  reception  of  the  evangel- 
ical doctrines.  Almost  all  the  intellectual  and  spiritual 
life  of  the  middle  ages  was  concentrated  in  her.  It  might 
have  been  said,  that  the  paths  were  every  where  trodden 
for  a  grand  manifestation  of  the  truth. "t  Perhaps  this 
preservation  of  the  "  intellectual  and  spiritual  life  of  the 
middle  ages,"  was  a  principal  reason  why  France  contin- 
ued Catholic.  A  little  farther  on,:j:  he  says :  "the  (French) 
people,  of  quick  feeling,  intelligent,  and  susceptible  of 
generous  emotions,  were  as  open,  or  even  more  so  than 
other  nations,  to  the  truth.  It  seemed  as  if  the  reforma- 
tion must  be,  among  them,  the  birth  which  should  crown 
the  travail  of  several  centuries.  But  the  chariot  of  France, 
which  seemed  for  so  many  generations  to  be  advancing  to 
the  same  goal,  suddenly  turned  at  the  moment  of  the  re- 
formation, and  took  a  contrary  direction.  Such  was  the 
will  of  Him,  who  rules  nations  and  their  kings."  We  ad- 
mire his  pious  resignation  to  the  will  of  God  !     This  sen- 

*  Ibid.  p.  86.  I  Ibid.  |  Ibid.  p.  87. 


74  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

timent  will  console  him  for  his  disappointment :  **  that  the 
augury  of  ages  was  deceived,"*  in  regard  to  France.  He 
adds,  in  the  same  pious  strain  :  **  perhaps,  if  she  had  re- 
ceived the  Gospel,  she  might  have  become  too  powerful !" 

He  winds  up  his  jeremiad  with  these  and  similar  pas- 
sages :  "France,  after  having  been  almost  reformed,  found 
herself,  in  the  result,  Roman  Catholic.  The  sword  of  her 
princes,  cast  into  the  scale,  caused  it  to  incline  in  favor 
of  Rome.  Alas  !  another  sword,  that  of  the  reformers 
themselves,  ensured  the  failure  of  the  effort  for  reforma- 
tion. The  hands  that  had  been  accustomed  to  warlike 
weapons,  ceased  to  be  lifted  up  in  prayer.  It  is  by  the 
blood  of  its  confessors,  not  by  that  of  its  adversaries,  that 
the  Gospel  triumphs.  Blood  shed  by  its  defenders,  extin- 
guishes and  smothers  it."t  That  is,  the  reformation 
sought  to  establish  itself  in  France  by  violence  and  by 
force,  and  signally  failed !  Elsewhere,  as  we  shall  see,  it 
was  more  successful  in  the  employment  of  such  carnal 
weapons.  But  Protestantism  obtained  sufficient  foot-hold 
in  France  to  do  incredible  mischief  for  a  century  and  a 
half;  and  it  sowed  upon  her  beautiful  soil  the  fatal  seeds 
which,  two  centuries  and  a  half  later,  produced  the  bitter 
fruits  of  anarchy,  infidelity  and  bloodshed,  during  the 
dreadful  **  reign  of  terror  !" 

Such  is  the  theory  of  M.  D'Aubigne:  and  we  now  pro- 
ceed to  its  refutation,  which  is  no  difficult  task,  as  in  fact 
it  sufficiently  refutes  itself. 

•  Ibid.  t  Ibid- 


CHAPTER    III. 


PRETEXTS    FOR    THE    REFORMATION. 

Usual  plea — Abuses  greatly  exaggerated — Three  questions  put  and 
answered — Origin  of  abuses — Free-will  unimpaired — Councils  to  ex- 
tirpate abuses — Church  thwarted  by  princes  and  the  world — Con- 
troversy on  investitures — Extent  of  the  evil — Sale  of  indulgences — 
St.  Peter's  Church — John  Tetzel — His  errors  greatly  exaggerated — 
Public  penance — License  to  sin — Nature  of  indulgences — Tetzel 
rebuked  and  his  conduct  disavowed  by  Rome — Miltitz  and  Cardinal 
Cajetan — Kindness  thrown  away — Luther  in  tears — Efforts  of  Rome 
— Leo  X  and  Adrian  VI — Their  forbearance  censured  by  Catholic 
writers — Their  tardy  severity  justified  by  D'Aubigne — Luther'i 
real  purpose — The  proper  remedy — The  real  issue — Nullification — 
Curing  and  cutting  a  throat — Luther's  avowal — Admissions  of  the 
confession  of  Augsburg  and  of  Daille — Summing  up. 

The  most  usual  plea  for  the  reformation  is,  that  it  was 
necessary  for  the  correction  of  the  abuses  which  had  crept 
into  the  Catholic  church.  These  are  exaggerated  and 
painted  in  the  most  glowing  colors,  by  M.  D'Aubigne, 
and  by  other  writers  favorable  to  the  reformation.  He 
dwells  with  evident  complacency  on  the  vices  of  one  or 
two  popes,  and  of  many  of  the  Catholic  bishops  and 
clergy,  secular  and  regular,  during  the  fifteenth  and  six- 
teenth centuries.  He  represents  the  whole  church  as 
thoroughly  corrupt,  and  states  that,  but  for  the  reforma- 
tion, religion  would  have  perished  entirely  from  the  face 
of  the  earth  !  We  have  already  seen  how  he  compared 
the  reformers,  preaching  up  their  new-fangled  doctrines 
among  the  benighted  Roman  Catholics  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  to  the  apostles  preaching  the  Gospel  to  the  Pa- 
gans of  their  day  !  And  how  coolly  he  assured  us  that  the 
•*  reformation  was  but  the  re-appearance  of  Christianity  !" 
We  record  our  solemn  protest  against  the  gross  injustice 
of  this  whole  view  of  the  subject. 


76  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

But  we  are  asked — "  What?  do  you  deny  the  existence 
of  abuses  in  the  Catholic  church  ?  Do  you  deny,  that  those 
abuses  were  great  and  wide  spread  ?  Do  you  deny,  that 
it  was  proper,  and  even  necessary  to  correct  them  ?" 
We  deny  none  of  these  things  ;  except  that  there  is  an 
implied  exaggeration  in  the  second  question.  W^e  admit 
the  existence  of  the  evil  complained  of,  especially  about 
the  bep;inning  of  the  sixteenth  century ;  and  we  deplore 
it,  as  sincerely  at  least,  as  do  the  opponents  of  the  Catho- 
lic church.  A  good  cause  can  never  suiFer  from  the  truth, 
and  the  whole  truth.  Let  genuine  history  pronounce  its 
verdict  as  to  the  real  facts  of  the  case ;  and  we  bow  to  the 
decision.  But  what  was  the  origin  of  the  abuses  com- 
plained of  .^  what  was  their  extent?  and  what  was  the  ad- 
equate and  proper  remedy  for  them  ?  We  will  endeavor 
briefly  to  answer  these  three  questions. 

I.  It  was  not  the  intention  of  Christ,  nor  was  it  the  de- 
sign of  the  Christian  religion  wholly  to  prevent  the  possi- 
bility of  abuses.  He  willed,  indeed,  that  all  men  sliould 
embrace  his  religion,  and  reduce  its  holy  principles  to 
practice;  in  which  case,  there  would  have  been  no  disor- 
ders nor  abuses  on  the  face  of  the  earth :  and  the  world 
would  have  been  an  earthly  paradise,  free  from  all  stain 
of  sin.  But  this  state  of  perfection  could  not  have  been 
effectually  brought  about,  without  offering  violence  to 
man's  free  will,  which  God,  in  his  moral  government  of 
the  world,  has  ever  wished  to  leave  unimpaired.  Religion 
was  offered  to  mankind  with  all  its  saving  truths,  its  holy 
maxims,  its  purifying  institutions,  and  its  powerful  sanc- 
tions of  rewards  and  punishments  in  an  after  life.  Suffi- 
cient grace  was  also  offered  to  all,  to  enable  them  to  learn 
and  believe  its  doctrines,  and  to  reduce  to  practice  its 
commandments.  But  no  one  was  compelled  to  do  either. 
Among  the  twelve,  who  were  trained  under  the  imme- 
diate eye  of  Christ,  there  was  one  **  devil." 

Christ  himself  foresaw  and  foretold  that  scandals  would 
come;  and  contented  himself  with  pronouncing  a  **  wo  on 


PRETEXTS  FOR  THE  REFORMATION.         17 

that  man  bj  whom  the  scandal  comefh."*  In  his  king- 
dom, there  was  to  be  cockle,  as  well  as  the  good  wheat, 
and  he  willed  **  that  both  should  grow  until  the  harvesf't 
of  the  general  judgment,  in  which  only,  the  final  separa- 
tion of  the  good  and  evil  will  take  place.  Nothing  is  more 
foreign  to  the  nature  of  Christ's  church,  than  the  proposi- 
tion, that  it  was  intended  only  to  comprise  the  elect  and 
the  just.  The  struggle  between  good  and  evil — between 
truth  and  error — between  the  powers  of  heaven  and  the 
**  gates  of  hell" — is  to  go  on  until  the  consummation  of 
the  world  :  and  Christ  has  pledged  his  solemn  word,  that 
**  the  gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail  against  his  church  ;":j: 
and  that  he  will  be  with  the  body  of  his  pastors  and  teach- 
ers "all  days  even  to  the  consummation  of  the  world. "§ 

Abuses  existed  in  all  ages  of  the  church,  even  during 
her  palmiest  days.  The  writings  of  the  earliest  fathers — 
of  St.  Cyprian,  of  Tertullian,  of  St.  Ambrose,  and  St. 
John  Chrysostom — paint  them  in  the  most  glowing  co- 
lors. The  church  never  approved  of  them — she  could  not 
do  so  even  for  a  day  ;  for  Christ  had  solemnly  promised 
to  guard  her  from  error.  She  bore  her  constant  testi- 
mony against  them,  and  labored  without  intermission  for 
their  removal.  Her  eighteen  general  councils — one  for 
each  century — and  her  local  ecclesiastical  assemblies, 
almost  without  number — diocesan,  provincial,  and  na- 
tional— what  are  they  but  evidences  of  this  her  constant 
solicitude,  and  records  of  her  noble  and  repeated  strug- 
gles for  the  extirpation  of  error  and  vice  ?  There  is  not 
an  error  that  she  has  not  proscribed  ;  not  a  vice  or  an 
abuse  upon  which  she  has  not  set  the  seal  of  her  condem- 
nation. She  was  divinely  commissioned  for  this  purpose : 
and  well  and  fully  has  she  discharged  the  commission  ! 

Whenever  she  was  not  opposed  nor  thwarted  in  her 
purpose,  error  and  vice  disappeared  before  her,  like  the 

*  Math,  xviii,  7.  '  t  Ibid,  xiii,  30. 

t  Math,  xvi,  18.  •  §  Ibid,  xxviii,  20. 


78  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

mists  before  the  rising  sun.  But  she  had  at  all  times  to 
contend  with  numerous  obstacles.  This  was  particularly 
the  case  during  the  middle  ages.  The  princes  of  the 
earth,  especially  in  Germany,  sought,  during  that  whole 
period,  to  enslave  the  church,  and  to  make  the  bishops 
the  mere  subservient  instruments  of  their  worldly  pur- 
poses and  earthly  ambition.  This  they  endeavored  to 
effect  by  making  them  their  vassals,  and  by  claiming  a 
right  to  confer  on  them  even  the  insignia  of  their  spirit- 
ual office.  The  effect  of  this  last  claim  was  to  render  the 
appointment  of  bishops,  as  well  as  the  exercise  of  their 
spiritual  jurisdiction,  dependent  on  the  whims  of  the  secu- 
lar power.  The  Roman  pontiffs  maintained  an  arduous 
contest,  for  centuries,  with  the  emperors  of  Germany  and 
with  other  princes,  against  this  usurpation.  The  question 
of  investitures  was  one  of  vital  consequence — of  liberty 
or  slavery  for  the  church.  After  a  protracted  struggle 
the  pontiffs  succeeded  ;  but  their  success  was  neither  so 
complete  nor  so  permanent  as  the  friends  of  the  church 
could  have  wished.  Emperors,  kings,  and  princes,  espe- 
cially those  of  the  Germanic  body,  had  still  far  too  much 
power  in  the  nomination  of  bishops. 

II.  The  consequences  were  most  disastrous  for  the 
church.  LFnworthy  bishops  were  often  intruded  into  the 
principal  sees.  The  example  and  the  influence  of  these 
were  frequently  baneful  to  the  character  of  the  inferior 
clergy.  Owing  to  the  operation  of  these  causes,  the  bish- 
ops and  clergy  of  Germany,  many  of  them,  had  greatly 
degenerated,  about  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century. 
Still  there  were  many  brilliant  exceptions.  The  evil 
was  by  no  means  so  general  or  so  wide-spread  as  it  is 
usually  represented.  We  are  yet  free  to  avow  that  it  is 
difficult  to  explain  how  such  large  bodies  of  the  clergy 
abandoned  the  church  in  many  countries  of  the  north,  in 
any  other  supposition  than  that  they  had  sadly  degene- 
rated from  primitive  fervor.  At  the  bidding  of  their 
prince,  or  at  the  prompting  of  their  own  self-interest. 


PRETEXTS  FOR  THE  REFORMATION.         79 

they  left  that  church  which  they  had  promised  to  defend, 
and  at  whose  altars  they  had  been  consecrated  ! 

The  abuse  and  alleged  sale  of  indulgences  afforded  the 
principal  pretext  for  the  first  movements  of  the  reforma- 
tion. The  church  had  always  maintained  her  power  to 
grant  indulgences  :  she  never  sanctioned,  in  her  official 
capacity,  the  abuses  which,  at  some  times  and  in  some 
places,  grew  out  of  the  exercise  of  this  power.  In  the 
early  church  the  canons  imposed  long  and  painful  public 
penances  on  certain  grievous  transgressions,  A  canon  of 
the  general  council  of  Nice,  in  325,  had  given  to  the  bish- 
ops a  discretionary  power  to  remit  the  whole  or  a  part  of 
those  penances,  when  the  penitent  manifested  special  fer- 
vor. Other  councils  made  similar  enactments.  During 
the  middle  ages  the  rigor  of  the  ancient  penitential  sys- 
tem was  greatly  softened  down  :  and  the  penances  them- 
selves were  often  commuted  into  alms  or  other  pious 
works. 

About  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century  Leo  X 
conceived  the  purpose  of  erecting  in  Rome  a  temple, 
which  should  far  surpass,  in  dimensions  and  magnificence, 
any  thing  that  the  world  had  ever  yet  seen.  The  origina- 
tion of  the  plan  of  St.  Peter's  church  was  an  idea  worthy 
the  mind  of  that  magnificent  pontiff;  and  its  erection, 
which  he  commenced,  is  the  noblest  monument  to  his 
fame.  To  promote  an  object  so  splendid,  he  promulgated 
a  bull,  in  which  he  promised  ample  indulgences  to  all  who 
would  contribute  to  so  laudable  an  undertaking.  And,  if 
there  were  no  other  proof  of  the  utility  of  indulgences, 
the  erection  of  that  splendid  temple,  mainly  due  to  them, 
is  a  monument  which  would  alone  suffice  to  remove  every 
cavil  on  the  subject.  No  one  can  enter  that  church  with- 
out being  forcibly  impressed  with  the  majesty  of  God  and 
the  grandeur  of  the  Christian  religion.  His  soul  becomes 
*'as  colossal  as  the  building  itself!'' 

Albert,  archbishop  of  Mayence  and  Magdeburg,  was 
appointed  by  the  pontiff  to  carry  out  the  intentions  of  the 


80  d'aubigne-s  history  reviewed. 

bull  in  Germany.  He  nominated  John  Tetzel,  a  Domini- 
can friar,  to  be  the  chief  preacher  of  the  indulgences. 
We  have  no  mission  to  defend  the  extravagances  imputed 
to  this  man.  To  us  it  appears  that  much  injustice  has 
been  done  him,  and  that  his  errors  have  been  greatly  ex- 
ao-o-erated  by  his  enemies.  He  seems  to  have  been  in  the 
main  a  good  man,  with  little  prudence  or  discretion.  The 
magnificent  terms  in  which  he  set  forth  the  utility  and 
efficacy  of  the  indulgences  should  have  been  explained,  in 
common  justice,  according  to  the  well  known  doctrine 
and  practice  of  the  church  on  this  subject. 

One  thing  is  certain,  that  the  abuses  of  which  he  is 
accused  were  not  authorized  by  the  church  or  the  pontiff. 
M.  D'Aubigne,  an  unexceptionable  witness,  tells  us  as 
much.  He  admits  that,  **  in  the  pope's  bull,  something 
was  said  of  the  repentance  of  the  heart  and  the  confession 
of  the  lips  :"  but  adds  that  *'  Tetzel  and  his  companions 
cautiously  abstained  from  all  mention  of  these  ;  otherwise 
their  coffers  might  have  remained  empty  ;''*  and  that  this 
omission  was  in  consequence  of  instructions  from  Arch- 
bishop Albert,  *'  who  forbade  them  even  to  mention  con- 
version or  contrition. 't  And  yet,  on  the  same  page,  he 
acknowledges  that  confession,  which  necessarily  presup- 
poses conversion  and  contrition  of  heart,  was  a  prerequi- 
site to  the  granting  of  the  indulgence !  *'  Confession 
being  gone  through  (and  it  was  soon  despatched),  the 
faithful  hastened  to  the  vender."± 

We  have  strong  reason  to  object  to  this  term  "vender :" 
the  granting  of  the  indulgence,  even  according  to  the 
avowedly  unauthorized  practice  of  Tetzel,  did  not  justify 
the  idea  of  a  sale  or  traffic,  properly  so  called.  The  of- 
fering made  on  the  occasion  was  entirely  free  :  those  who 
were  unable  to  contribute  any  thing,  still  obtained  the 
boon  ;  and  those  who  M^ere  able,  contributed  according  to 
their  ability  or  will,  no  fixed  amount  being  determined. 

•  Vol.  i,  p.  214.  t  Ibid.  p.  215.  J  Ibid. 


PRETEXTS  FOR  THE  REFORMATION.  81 

All  that  even  D'Aubigne  asserts  on  this  subject  is,  that 
*'  an  angrj  look  was  cast  on  those  who  dared  to  close  their 
purses."*  When  Protestant  preachers  take  up  collections 
at  the  close  of  their  sermons,  for  the  support  of  themselves, 
their  wives  and  children^  can  it  be  said  with  propriety,  that 
they  sell  their  sermons  for  the  amounts  thus  contributed, 
even  should  it  happen  that  those  sums  more  than  equalled 
the  value  received  ?  But  the  questors  of  indulgences  did 
not  go  thus  far,  even  according  to  the  showing  of  our  very 
partial  historian.  He  tells  us,  *•  that  the  hand  that  deli- 
vered the  indulgence  could  not  receive  the  money:  that 
was  forbidden  under  the  severest  penal  ties. ''t 

He  even  admits,  that,  notwithstanding  the  boasted  effi- 
cacy of  the  indulgences,  public  penance  was  still  enjoined 
by  Tetzel  and  his  associates,  for  offences  which  had  given 
public  scandal.  "  If,  among  those  who  pressed  into  the 
confessionals,  there  came  one  whose  crimes  had  been 
public,  and  yet  untouched  by  the  civil  laws,  such  person 
was  obliged,  first  of  all,  to  do  public  penance.":}:  Did  this 
look  like  patronizing  vice  ?  Was  it  not  rather  a  salutary 
restraint  on  guilt,  imposed  as  a  condition  for  obtaining  the 
indulgence  ?  The  very  nature  of  the  indulgence  itself, 
and  the  conditions  always  required  to  obtain  it,  and  set 
forth  in  the  Bull  of  Leo  X,  far  from  fiivoring  sin,  or  being 
an  incentive  to  its  commission,  necessarily  precluded  both. 
An  indulgence  is  merely  a  sequel  to  the  sacrament  of  pe- 
nance: it  removes  only  the  temporal  penalty,  which  may 
remain  due  after  the  sin  itself  and  the  eternal  punishment 
due  to  it,  have  been  al  ready  remitted  :  and,  according  to 
its  very  nature,  it  cannot  take  effect,  until  all  grievous 
sin  has  been  already  pardoned  through  sincere  repentance 
and  the  sacrament  of  penance.  It  offers  then,  essentially, 
a  most  powerful  inducement  to  repentance  and  amendment 
of  life. 

*  Vol.  i,  p.  216.  t  Ibid. 

X  Ibid.  True,  he  calls  this  a  "  wretched  mummery,"  because  Pro- 
testants cannot,  or  will  not,  understand  or  appreciate  these  works  of 
penance  !    These  are  not  to  their  taste ! 


82  d*aubigne'3  history  reviewed. 

The  acts  of  Tetzel  were  officially  disavowed  by  the 
court  of  Rome.  In  1519,  Charles  Miltitz,  the  papal  envoy, 
openly  rebuked  him  for  his  conduct  in  the  affair  of  the 
indulgences;  and  even  charged  him  with  having  been  the 
occasion  of  most  of  the  troubles  which  during  the  previous 
two  years  had  afflicted  Germany.*  He,  however,  con- 
demned the  friar  unheard,  relying  chiefly  upon  the  exag- 
gerated representations  of  his  enemies.  He  M^ould  not 
even  allow  the  Dominican  to  defend  himself  against  the 
grievous  charges  brought  against  him  by  Luther.t  Among 
these  was  the  accusation,  that  he  had  uttered  horrid  blas- 
phemies against  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary.  In  a  letter  to 
Miltitz,  Tetzel  indignantly  repelled  this  charge  :  but  the 
spirit  of  the  monk  was  broken;  and  he  died  soon  after, 
most  probably  of  chagrin.  Most  writers  of  impartiality 
blame  the  conduct  of  the  papal  envoy,  who  immoderately 
flattered  Luther  on  the  one  hand,  and  sacrificed  Tetzel  on 
the  other.f  His  motive,  however,  was  a  good  one :  to 
conciliate  Luther  by  removing  all  reasonable  causes  of 
complaint,  and  thus  to  heal  the  schism  with  which  he 
menaced  the  church  of  God. 

But  Miltitz  did  not  know  his  man.  All  conciliation  was 
entirely  thrown  away  on  him.  The  learned  and  amiable 
Cardinal  Cajetan,  a  year  before,  had  made  the  attempt  to 
win  him  by  kindness,  in  the  interview  they  had  at  Augs- 
burg. Luther  was  affected  even  unto  tears  by  this  good- 
ness ;  and,  at  the  close  of  the  conference,  addressed  the 
cardinal  nuncio  in  the  following  strain :  **  I  return  to  you, 
my  father  !  .  .  .  I  am  moved.  I  have  no  more  fear  :  my 
fear  is  changed  into  love  and  filial  respect ;  you  might 
have  employed  force,  but  you  have  chosen  persuasion  and 
charity.  Yes,  I  avow  it  now — I  have  been  violent  and 
hostile,  and  have  spoken  irreverently  of  the  pope.  I  was 
provoked  to  these  excesses;  but  I  should  have  been  more 

*  D'Aubigne,  vol.  ii,  p.  Id. 
t  See  Audin,  "  Life  of  Luther/'  p.  89,  90.  |  Ibid, 


PRETEXTS  FOR  THE  REFORMATION.      *    83 

guarded  on  so  serious  a  question,  and,  in  answering  a 
fool,  I  should  have  avoided  imitating  his  folly.  I  am 
affected  and  penitent,  and  ask  for  pardon.  I  will  ac- 
knowledge my  repentance  to  whoever  wishes  to  hear  it 
declared.  For  the  future,  I  promise  you,  father,  to  speak 
and  act  otherwise  than  1  have  done  :  God  will  assist  me; 
I  will  speak  no  more  of  indulgences,  provided  you  impose 
silence  on  all  those  who  have  involved  me  in  these  diffi- 
culties."* He  concludes  this  letter  with  the  followinor 
sentence  :  **  I  beseech  you  then,  with  all  humility,  to  re- 
port this  whole  affair  to  our  holy  father,  Pope  Leo  X, 
that  the  church  may  decide  on  what  is  to  be  believed,  and 
what  is  to  be  rejected."!  And  yet,  but  a  few  weeks  later, 
he  published  an  inflammatory  tract,  in  which  he  com- 
plained bitterly  of  the  severity  of  Cajetan,  spoke  harshly 
of  the  pope,  and  appealed  to  a  general  council  .J  We 
have  already  seen  how,  while  he  promised  every  thing  to 
Miltitz,  he  laughed,  in  letters  to  his  private  friends,  at 
the  **  crocodile  tears"  and  **  Judas-like  kiss"  of  that 
weak  and  duped  nuncio  ! 

The  reformation  of  abuses  in  the  matter  of  indulgences 
was  but  a  pretext :  the  real  motives  of  Luther  and  his 
partisans  were  very  different,  as  the  result  proved.  The 
pope,  through  his  legates,  had  done  every  thing  that  could 
have  been  reasonably  asked  for  the  removal  of  the  evils 
complained  of.  If  the  court  of  Rome  was  guilty  of  any 
fault,  it  was  that  of  excessive  leniency  to  Luther,  and  of 
too  great  a  spirit  of  conciliation  towards  his  partisans.^ 
This  was  especially  true  of  the  good  Adrian  VI,  who  suc- 

*  Apud,  Audin,  ibid.  p.  81.  f  Ibid. 

}  Lutheri  Opera,  Tom.  i,  fol.  217.  Audin,  p.  85,  seqq. 
§  Pallavicini  censures  Leo  X  for  his  excessive  forbearance  with  Lu- 
ther, and  for  having  commissioned  Doctor  Eck  to  publish  the  bull 
against  him  in  Germany.  {Storia  del  Cone,  di  Trenio  cap.  xxv.)  Mu- 
ratori  joins  in  the  censures  :  "  Papa  Leone  che  ruminando  alii  pensieri 
di  gloria  mondana,  e  piu  che  agli  affari  della  religione  agonizante  in  Ger- 
mania  pensando  aL'  ingrandimenlo  della  chiesa  Umporale."  (Annali, 
vol.  X,  p.  145.)    Audin  ably  defendg  the  pontiff,  p.  115. 


84  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

ceeded  Leo  X  in  the  pontificate  early  in  the  year  1522. 
He  immediately  set  about  the  work  of  reform  with  great 
zeal,  both  at  Rome  and  in  Germany.  He  took  from  the 
questors  the  power  of  distributing  indulgences.  In  the 
diet  of  Nuremberg,  in  1522,  he  offered,  through  his  le- 
gate, Cheregat,  to  reform  every  abuse.*  How  were  his 
advances  met  ?  They  were  repaid  by  triumphant  insult 
and  indignity.  The  diet,  under  Lutheran  influence,  drew 
up  an  inflammatory  paper  containing  the  famous  centum 
gravamina — or  **  hundred  grievances" — fraught  with  un- 
founded and  highly  exaggerated  charges  against  Rome. 
And  yet  the  good  pontiff  did  not  return  railing  for  railing. 
He  still  promised  to  do  every  thing  in  his  power  to  re- 
move all  causes  of  reasonable  complaint.  This  pontiff, 
**  who  thought  not  of  evil,  and  of  whom  the  world  was  not 
worthy,"  according  to  the  testimony  of  a  Protestant  his- 
torian,! died  of  a  broken  heart  after  the  return  of  Chere- 
gat. All  the  poor  of  Rome  followed  his  hearse,  and  be- 
wailed him:  they  said,  "our  father  is  dead!"  While 
they  passed,  the  people  knelt  down  and  burst  into  tears. 
Never  had  funeral  pomp  called  forth  so  deep  a  feeling.J 

What,  in  fact,  could  Rome  have  done,  v/hich  she  did 
not  do  to  redress  every  grievance,  and  to  carry  out  every 
necessary  measure  of  reform  ?  Did  the  reformers  ask  for 
forbearance  ?  Rome  was  perhaps  too  forbearing.  Did  they 
wish  for  a  spirit  of  conciliation  ?  Rome  descended  from 
her  lofty  dignity,  and  met  them  half  way — and  then  they 
rudely  repulsed  her  advances  !  Even  M.  D'Aubigne 
praises  the  forbearance  of  Leo  X,  and  the  **  equity  of  the 
Romish  synod,"  which  prepared  the  bull  against  Luther.§ 
He  says  :  *'  in  fact,  Rome  was  brought  into  the  necessity 
of  having  recourse  to  measures  of  stern  severity.  The 
gauntlet  was  thrown  down,  the  combat  must  be  to  the 
death.     It  was  not  the  abuses  of  the  pontiff's  authority, 

*  «  Neaere  Geschichte  der  Deutcheu,  von  Karl  Ad.  Menzel,"  a  Pro- 
testant.   T.  1.    Apud  Audin,  p.  280. 

t  Adolph  Menzel,  supra.     Tom.  i.  p.  iii.     Apud  Audin,  p.  282, 
X  Audin,  ibid.  §  Vol.  ii,  p.  101. 


PRETEXTS  FOR  THE  REFORMATION.  85 

that  Luther  had  attacked.  At  his  bidding,  the  pope  was 
required  to  descend  meekly  from  his  throne,  and  become 
again  a  simple  pastor  or  bishop  on  the  banks  of  the 
Tiber  !* 

Had  Luther  sought  only  the  truth,  why  did  he  so  often 
consent  to  preserve  silence,  if  the  same  obligation  were 
imposed  on  his  adversaries  ?  Was  this  conduct  worthy 
the  apostle  of  reform,  and  the  boasted  champion  of  the 
Gospel  in  its  purity?  If  he  sought  only  truth,  why  did  he 
not  abide  by  the  decisions  of  those  numerous  tribunals,  to 
whose  authority  he  himself  had  voluntarily  appealed,  as 
the  arbiters  of  the  matters  in  dispute.^  Why  abuse  them 
so  intemperately,  for  having  decided  against  him?  The 
love  of  truth  and  the  reform  of  abuses,  were  but  shallow 
pretexts  ;  the  successive  appeals  just  alluded  to,  were  but 
crafty  expedients  to  gain  time :  the  real  object  was  sepa- 
ration from  the  church,  and  the  forming  of  a  schismatical 
party  of  which  he  would  be  the  head. 

III.  One  of  the  tribunals  to  which  Luther  had  appealed — 
the  general  council  of  Trent — adopted  every  measure  that 
discreet  zeal  could  have  asked,  for  the  reformation  of 
abuses.  By  far  the  larger  portion  of  its  decrees  are  de- 
voted to  the  work  of  reformation.  On  the  subject  of  in- 
dulgences, the  council  employs  this  emphatic  language  : 
"  wishing  to  correct  and  amend  the  abuses  which  have 
crept  into  them,  and  on  occcasion  of  which,  this  signal 
name  of  indulgences  is  blasphemed  by  heretics,  the  holy 
synod  enjoins  in  general  by  the  present  decree,  that  all 
wicked  traffic  for  obtaining  them,  which  has  been  the 
fruitful  cause  of  many  abuses  among  the  Christian  people, 
should  be  wholly  abolished."!     The  same  decree  recom- 

*  Ibid.  p.  97. 

f  Sessio  XXV.  Decret.  de  Indulg.  "  Abusus  vero,  qui  in  his  irrep- 
serunt,  et  quorum  occasione  insigne  hoc  Indulgentiarum  nomen  ab 
haereticis  blasphematur,  emeiidatos  et  correctos  cupiens,  praesenti  de- 
creto  gerieraliter  statuit,  pravos  quffistus  omnes  pro  his  consequendis, 
unde  plurima  in  Christiano  populo  abusuum  causa  fluxit,  omnino  abo- 
lendos  esse." 

8 


86  d'aubigne's  history  revie^ved. 

mends  great  moderation  in  the  granting  of  indulgences, 
and  directs  the  bishops  throughout  the  world,  to  detect 
and  refer  all  local  abuses  in  the  matter  to  provincial  coun- 
cils to  be  held  every  three  years,  whence  they  are  to  be 
reported  to  the  Roman  pontiiF.  Could  any  wiser  or  greater 
measure  of  reform  have  been  reasonably  demanded  ? 
Mr.  Hallam,  a  witness  whose  authority  will  not  be  sus- 
pected, bears  testimony  to  the  merit  of  the  Tridentine 
fathers.  After  having  refuted  at  some  length  **  a  strange 
notion  that  has  been  started  of  late  years  in  England,  that 
the  Council  of  Trent  made  important  innovations  in  the 
previously  established  doctrines  of  the  western  church: 
an  hypothesis,"  he  says,  "  so  paradoxical  in  respect  to 
public  opinion,  and,  it  must  be  added,  so  prodigiously  at 
variance  with  the  known  facts  of  ecclesiastical  history, 
that  we  cannot  but  admire  the  facility  with  which  it  has 
been  taken  up ;-'  he  thus  continues  :  "  no  council  ever 
contained  so  many  persons  of  eminent  learning  and  ability 
as  that  of  Trent ;  nor  is  there  ground  for  believing  that 
any  other  ever  investigated  the  questions  before  it  with  so 
much  patience,  acuteness,  temper,  and  desire  of  truth. 
The  early  councils,  unless  they  are  greatly  belied  [very 
probably  the  case),  would  not  bear  comparison  in  these 
characteristics.  Impartiality  and  freedom  from  prejudice 
no  Protestant  will  attribute  to  the  fathers  of  Trent ;  but 
where  will  he  produce  these  qualities  in  an  ecclesiastical 
synod  ?  But  it  may  be  said,  that  they  had  but  one  lead- 
ing prejudice  (!),  that  of  determining  theological  faith  ac- 
cording to  the  tradition  of  the  Catholic  church,  as  handed 
down  to  their  own  age.  This  one  point  of  authority  con- 
ceded, I  am  not  aware  that  they  can  be  proved  to  have 
decided  wrong,  or,  at  least,  against  all  reasonable  evi- 
dence. Let  those  who  have  imbibed  a  different  opinion 
ask  themselves,  whether  they  have  read  Sarpi  through 
with  any  attention,  especially  as  to  those  sessions  of  the 
Tridentine    council   which   preceded   its    suspension   in 


rRKTEXTS  FOR  THE  REFORMATIOX.  S7 

1547."*  The  history  of  the  council  of  Trent  by  cardinal 
Pallavicini,  which  Hallam  acknowledges  he  never  read, 
would  greatly  confirm  this  conclusion. 

AH  previous  councils,  both  general  and  local,  had 
adopted  measures  for  reform,  marked  with  similar  wis- 
dom and  zeal.  Many  of  the  decrees  of  the  general  coun- 
cil of  Constance,  in  the  beginning  of  the  fifteenth  century, 
as  well  as  those  of  the  general  council  of  Basle,t  towards 
the  middle  of  the  same  century,  had  been  distinguished 
by  the  same  solicitude.  M.  D'Aubigne  admits  this. 
**  Had  not  gentler  means  been  tried  for  ages?  Had  they 
not  seen  council  after  council  convoked  with  the  intention 
of  reforming  the  church  !"J  True,  he  says,  without  how- 
ever even  the  shadow  of  proof,  that  "  all  had  been  in 
vain."§  He  also  asserts  against  all  evidence,  that  Mar- 
tin V,  who  was  chosen  pontiff  in  the  council  of  Constance, 
A.  D.  1418,  with  the  express  stipulation,  that  he  should 
carry  out  the  measures  of  reform  commenced  by  the  coun- 
cil, subsequently  refused  to  redeem  his  pledge. II  But  did 
not  this  pontiff'  convoke  councils  for  the  purpose  succes- 
sively at  Pavia,  Sienna,  and  Basle  ?  And  was  it  his  fault 
that  his  intentions  were  not  fully  carried  out  ? 

The  controversy  did  not  turn  on  the  necessity  of  reform, 
but  on  the  means  best  calculated  to  bring  it  about.  There 
were  two  ways  of  reforming  abuses  in  the  church  ;  the  one 
from  within,  the  other  from  without — the  one  by  gentle  and 
legal  means,  the  other  by  lawless  violence.  The  Catholics 
were  in  favor  of  the  former,  the  Protestants  of  the  latter 
mode.  The  former  wished  to  remain  in  the  church,  which 
Christ  had  commanded  thein  to  hear,  and  to  labor  therein 
for  the  extirpation  of  abuses  ;  the  latter  separated  from 
the  church,  and  covered  it  with  obloquy,  against  the  so- 
lemn   injunction  of  its    divine    founder.       Were  not  the 

*  "  History  of  Literature,"  supra  citat.  vol.  i,  p.  277,  note. 
t  Before  it  degenerated   into  a  scliismatical  conventicle,  during  the 
last  sessions. 

+  Vol.  i,  p.  104.  §  Ibid.  I!  Ibid.  p.  5G. 


88 

Catholics  right  ?  Had  they  not  the  sanction  of  ages,  which, 
following  the  precedent  set  them  by  the  inspired  Apostles 
themselves  in  the  council  at  Jerusalem,  had  ever  sought 
to  proscribe  error  and  to  correct  abuses,  by  legal  enact- 
ments in  general  or  particular  councils  ?  And  did  not  the 
Protestants,  on  the  contrary,  follow  the  precedent  set 
them  by  the  separatists  and  heretics  of  every  age  of  the 
church  ?  What  difference  is  there,  in  the  principle,  be- 
tween the  Lutherans  protesting  against  the  decisions  of 
the  council  of  Trent,  in  the  sixteenth  century,  and  the 
Arians,  against  those  of  the  council  of  Nice,  in  the  fourth. 

Besides,  was  not  reason  clearly  on  the  side  of  the  Catho- 
lics ?  Which  is  the  proper  way  to  cure  a  sick  patient; 
to  remain  with  him,  and  to  administer  to  him  medicine,  or 
to  separate  from  him,  and  to  denounce  him  for  his  malady  ? 
Which  is  the  preferable  way  to  repair  an  edifice ;  to  re- 
main within  or  near  it,  and  to  labor  patiently  to  re-estab- 
lish it  in  its  former  strength  and  beauty,  or  to  leave  it  and 
bedaub  its  walls  with  mud  and  slime  ?  Finally,  which 
would  be  the  better  patriot :  he  who  would  remain  faithful 
to  the  republic,  and  patiently  await  the  progress  of  legal 
enactments  for  the  redress  of  grievances,  or  he  who  would 
nullify  the  union  under  pretext  of  those  grievances  ?  liCt 
the  seal  of  public  reprobation  set  upon  a  recent  attempt 
of  the  kind — in  which  the  principle  of  disorganization  was 
precisely  the  same  as  that  which  urged  the  reformers  to 
nullify  the  unity  of  the  church — answer  this  question.  An 
old  Protestant  divine  of  the  church  of  England,  illustrates 
the  evil  of  separation  from  the  church,  under  pretext  of 
reforming  it,  by  the  following  quaint  comparison  :  *'  You 
may  cure  a  throat  when  it  is  sorCy  but  not  when  it  is  cut.'^* 
This  is,  we  suppose,  in  the  style  coupe. 

Luther  himself  avowed  the  correctness  of  these  princi- 
ples, about  two  years  after  he  had  commenced  his  pre- 
tended reformation.    "  That  the  Roman  church,"  he  says, 

*  South.    «  Sermons,"  vol.  v,  p.  946.     Edit.  London,  1737. 


PRETF.XT3    FOR    THE    REFORMATION.  89 

•*  is  more  honored  by  God  than  all  others,  is  not  to  be 
doubted.  St.  Peter,  St.  Paul,  forty-six  popes,  some  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  of  martyrs,  have  laid  down  their  lives 
in  its  communion,  having  overcome  hell  and  the  world ; 
so  that  the  eyes  of  God  rest  on  the  Roman  church  with 
special  favor.  Though  now-a-days  every  thing  is  in  a 
wretched  state,  it  is  no  ground  for  separating  from  it.  On 
the  contrary,  the  worse  things  are  going,  the  more  should 
we  hold  close  to  it ;  for  it  is  not  by  separation  from  it  that 
we  can  make  it  better.  We  must  not  separate  from  God 
on  account  of  any  work  of  the  devil,  nor  cease  to  have  fel- 
lowship with  the  children  of  God,  who  are  still  abiding  in 
the  pale  of  Rome,  on  account  of  the  multitude  of  the  un- 
godly. There  is  no  sin,  no  amount  of  evil,  which  should 
be  permitted  to  dissolve  the  bond  of  charity,  or  break  the 
unity  of  the  body.  For  love  can  do  all  things,  and  no- 
thing is  difficult  to  those  who  are  united."*  Sentiments 
worthy  of  a  Gregorj^  VII,  or  of  a  Bernard  !  Had  he  per- 
severed in  them — had  he  not  immediately  after  substituted 
a  principle  of  hatred,  for  that  principle  of  love  **  which 
can  do  all  things-' — the  world  might  never  have  been 
cursed  with  the  countless  evils  of  schism  ! 

The  sentiments  of  Luther  just  given  were  re-echoed  by 
the  confession  of  Augsburg,  the  official  expositor  of  Lu- 
theran doctrines.  In  the  conclusion  of  its  exposition  of 
faith,  it  is  freely  admitted,  that  the  Roman  Catholic 
church  had  retained  every  article  of  doctrine  essential  to 
salvation,  and  that  the  abuses  which  had  crept  into  the  old 
church  were  unauthorized,  and  aiforded  no  sufficient 
cause  for  separation.  "  Such  is  the  abridgment  of  our  faith, 
in  which  nothing  will  be  found  contrary  to  Scripture,  or 
to  the  Catholic  church,  or  even  to  the  Roman  church,  as 
far  as  we  can  know  it  from  its  writers.  The  dispute  turns 
upon  some  few  abuses,  which  have  been  introduced  into 
the  churches  without  any  certain  authority ;  and  should 

*  Lutheri  Opera  Lat.  torn,  xvii,  p.  224,     Apud  D'Aubigne,  ii,  IS,  19. 
8* 


90  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

there  be  found  some  difference,  that  should  be  borne  with, 
since  it  is  not  necessary  that  the  rites  of  the  church  should 
be  every  where  the  same."*  Even  the  Calvinist  minister 
of  Charenton,  M.  Daille,  much  as  he  hated  the  Catholic 
church,  makes  a  similar  avowal.  After  having  enumera- 
ted those  articles  of  his  belief,  which  he  is  pleased  to  call 
fundamental,  he  says :  "  Rome  does  not  call  in  question 
the  articles  which  we  believe ;  it  even  professes  to  believe 
them.  Who  can  deny,  even  in  our  day,  that  Rome  admits 
the  necessary  articles  ?"t  Why  then  separate  from  her  ? 
Hitherto  we  have  treated  of  the  origin  and  extent  of  the 
evils  which  afforded  the  reformers  a  pretext  for  the  refor- 
mation ;  and  we  have  also  endeavored  to  point  out  the 
proper  means  of  effecting  reformation — the  true  method  of 
solving  the  great  problem  of  the  sixteenth  century.  We 
will  now  proceed  to  examine  the  means  adopted  by  the 
reformers  for  that  alleged  purpose,  and  will  endeavor 
through  them  to  account  for  the  rapidity  with  which  the 
reformation  was  diffused. 

*  Art.  xxi.    Anno  Dom.  1530.    Confessio  Augustana. 
t  "  Institut.  Chretiennes,"  1.  iv,  ch.  ii,  and  "LaLoifondee,"  part.  iii. 


CHAPTER    IV. 


THE    TRUE    CAUSES    AND   MANNER    OF    THE    REFORMATION,    AND 
THE    MEANS    BY    WHICH    IT    WAS    EFFECTED. 

Saying  of  Frederick  the  great — What  we  mean  to  prove — Testimony 
of  Hallam — Doctrines  of  Luther— Justification  without  works — Its 
dreadful  consequences  avowed — The  "slave-will" — Man,  a  beast 
with  two  riders — Dissuasive  from  celibacy — An  easy  way  to  heaven 
— D'Aubigne's  discreet  silence — Testimony  of  the  Diet  of  Worms  on 
Luther's  doctrines — An  old  lady  emancipated — Protection  of  princes 
— Schlegel's  testimony — The  reformers  flatter  princes  and  pander  to 
their  vices — A  reformed  dispensation — Character  of  reformed  princes 
— Their  cupidity — Fed  by  Luther — Protestant  restitution — Open 
violence  and  spoliation — The  modus  operandi  of  the  reformation — 
Schlegel  again — Abuse  of  the  press — Vituperation  and  calumny — 
Policy  of  Luther's  marriage — Apostate  monks — Recapitulation — A 
distinction — The  reformation  '-'a  reappearance  of  Christianity." 

We  believe  it  was  Frederick  the  Great,  of  Prussia,  who 
first  made  the  well  known  remark,  *'  that  pride  and  ava- 
rice had  caused  the  reformation  in  Germany,  lawless  love 
in  England,  and  the  love  of  novelty  in  France."  Perhaps 
the  greatest  severity  of  this  remark,  is  its  strict  historic 
truth.  It,  of  course,  was  intended  merely  to  designate 
the  first  and  most  prominent  among  a  variety  of  other 
causes.  Wm.  Cobbett  has  proved — and  no  one  has  yet 
answered  his  arguments — that  in  England,  the  first  cause 
alluded  to  above,  was  powerfully  aided  by  cupidity, 
which  fattened  on  the  rich  spoils  of  the  church,  and  by 
the  reckless  pride  of  ascendancy,  which  revelled  in,  and 
was  cemented  by,  the  blood  of  vast  numbers  of  innocent 
victims,  whose  only  crime  was  their  conscientious  adhe- 
rence to  the  religion  of  their  fathers. 

We  will  present  a  mass  of  evidence  to  prove  that  in 
Germany,  the  reformation,  which  was  commenced  in  the 


9:2  d'aubwsne's  history  reviewed. 

pride  of  revolt,  was  fed  and  kept  alive  by  avarice  and  li- 
centiousness, vv^as  propagated  bv  calumny,  by  violence, 
and  by  pandering  to  the  worst  passions,  and  was  consum- 
mated and  rendered  permanent  by  the  fostering  care  of 
secular  princes,  without  whose  protection  it  would  have 
died  away  and  come  to  naught.  This  is  strong  language ; 
but  it  is  more  than  justified  by  the  facts  of  history  :  not 
indeed  as  those  facts  have  been  travestied,  miscolored 
and  perverted  by  such  partial  writers  as  M.  D'Aubigne; 
but,  as  they  are  clearly  set  forth  by  cotemporary  historians, 
and  as  they  appear  in  the  original  documents.  AVe  shall 
allege  only  such  as  are  undoubted  and  clearly  established 
from  these  sources. 

But  before  we  adduce  this  evidence,  let  us  see  what  a 
very  learned  and  enlightened  living  Protestant  historian 
thinks  on  this  subject,  to  the  investigation  of  which  he  has 
devoted  much  labor.  Mr.  Hal  lam  gives  us  the  result  of 
his  researches  in  the  following  passages,  which  we  quote 
from  his  latest  work.  **  Whatever  may  be  the  bias  of  our 
minds  as  to  the  truth  of  Luther's  doctrines,  we  should  be 
careful,  in  considering  the  reformation  as  a  part  of  the 
history  of  mankind,  not  to  be  misled  by  the  superficial 
and  ungrounded  representations  which  we  sometimes  find 
in  modern  writers.  (M,  IVAubigne  for  example).  Such 
is  this,  that  Luther,  struck  by  the  absurdity  of  the  pre- 
vailing superstitions,  was  desirous  of  introducing  a  more 
rational  system  of  religion  ;  or,  that  he  contended  for  free- 
dom of  inquiry,  and  the  boundless  privileges  of  individual 
judgment;  or,  what  others  have  been  pleased  to  suggest, 
that  his  zeal  for  learning  and  ancient  philosophy  led  him 
to  attack  the  ignorance  of  the  monks  and  the  crafty  policy 
of  the  church,  which  withstood  all  liberal  studies.  These 
notions  are  merely  fallacious  refinements,  as  every  man 
of  plain  understanding  (except  M.  D\^uhigne)  who  is  ac- 
quainted with  the  writings  of  the  early  reformers,  or  has 
considered  their  history,  must  acknowledge."* 

*  "  History  of  Literature."     Sup.  Cit.  vol.  i,  p.  165,  sec.  60-61. 


CAUSES  AND  MANNER  OF  THE  REFORMATION.  93 

In  another  place,  he  has  this  remarkable  passage:  *'  the 
adherents  to  the  church  of  Rome  have  never  failed  to  cast 
two  reproaches  on  those  who  left  them  :  one,  that  the  re- 
form was  brought  about  by  intemperate  and  calumnious 
abuse,  by  outrages  of  an  excited  populace,  or  bj  the  ty- 
ranny of  princes;  the  other,  that,  after  stimulating  the 
most  ignorant  to  reject  the  authority  of  their  church,  it 
instantly  withdrew  this  liberty  of  judgment,  and  devoted 
all  who  presumed  to  swerve  from  the  line  drawn  by  law, 
to  virulent  obloquy,  and  sometimes  to  bonds  and  death. 
These  reproaches^  it  may  be  a  shame  to  us  to  own,  can 
he  uttered  and  canjiot  he  refuted.^^^  After  making  this 
painful  avowal,  he  enters  upon  a  labored  argument  to  prove 
that  the  reformation  could  have  succeeded  by  no  other 
means  !t 

The  reformers,  as  we  have  seen,  were  not  content  with 
clamoring  for  the  reform  of  abuses :  they  laid  violent 
hands  on  the  sacred  deposit  of  the  faith.  Like  Oza  of  old, 
they  put  forth  their  hands  to  the  ark  of  God,  mindless  of 
Oza's  fate  !J  Under  the  plea  that  the  Catholic  church  had 
fallen  into  numerous  and  fatal  doctrinal  errors,  and  that 
the  reformation  could  not  be  thorough,  without  the  remo- 
val of  these,  they  rejected  many  doctrines  which  the  whole 
world  had  hitherto  revered  as  the  revelation  of  God;  and 
substituted  in  their  place  new  tenets,  which  they  professed 
to  find  more  conformable  to  the  word  of  God.  This  is 
not  the  place  to  examine  whether  these  new  doctrines  are 
true  ;  all  that  our  plan  calls  for  at  present,  is  to  inquire 
what  those  doctrines  were,  and  what  was  their  practical 
bearing  on  the  v/ork  of  the  reformation  ?  Were  they  real- 
ly calculated  to  exercise  an  influence  beneficial  to  morals 
and  to  society?  Were  they  adequate  means  to  reform  the 
church  ?  As  it  would  be  tedious  to  exhibit  even  a  brief 
summary  of  all  the  contradictory  tenets  held  by  the  early 
reformers,  or  even  by  the  early  Lutherans  themselves,  we 

*  Ibid.  p.  200,  sec.  34.        j  Ibid.      X  2  Kings  (or  Samuel)  vi,  6. 


94 

must  confine  ourselves  to  those  broached  and  defended 
by  Luther,  the  "  father  of  the  reformation."  And  we 
shall  state  nothing  for  which  we  will  not  exhibit  chapter 
and  verse  from  his  own  writings.* 

The  leading  tenet  of  Luther's  doctrine  was,  a  belief  in 
justification  by  faith  alone  without  works.  This  is  the 
key  to  his  entire  system.  Let  us  hear  the  modest  way  in 
which  he  asserts  this  doctrine,  one  that  he  always  styled 
•*a  fundamental  article."  "Well,  then,  I,  Doctor  Mar- 
tin Luther,  an  unworthy  evangelist  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  do  confess  this  article,  '  that  faith  alone  without 
works  justifies  in  the  sight  of  God;'  and  I  declare  that, 
in  spite  of  the  emperor  of  the  Romans,  the  emperor  of  the 
Tui  ks,  the  emperor  of  the  Tartars,  the  emperor  of  the 
Persians,  the  pope,  all  the  cardinals,  bishops,  priests, 
monks,  nuns,  kings,  princes,  nobles,  all  the  world,  and 
all  the  devils,  it  shall  stand  unshaken  for  ever  !  That,  if 
they  will  persist  in  opposing  this  truth,  they  will  draw 
upon  their  heads  the  flames  of  hell.  This  is  the  true  and 
holy  gospel,  and  the  declaration  of  me.  Doctor  Luther, 
according  to  the  light  given  to  me  by  the  Holy  Ghost,"t 

This  declaration  was  made  in  1531  ;  and,  according  to 
M.  D'Aubigne,  who  quotes  Seckendorf,  Luther's  most 
ardent  admirer,  he  received  **  this  new  light  of  the  Holy 
Ghost"  while  visiting  "  Pilate's  stair-case"+  in  Rome,  a 
few  years  before  he  turned  reformer.  This  we  apprehend 
was  an  after-thought.  Certain  it  is  that,  to  get  rid  of  the 
conclusive  argument  against  this  cardinal  doctrine  drawn 

•  Some  of  the  rao.iern  editions  of  Luther's  works  have  been  greatly 
expurgated  by  his  admirers.  We  shall  quote  from  the  oldest  and  most 
authentic  editions,  those  of  Wittemberg,  of  Jena,  of  Frankfort,  of  Alten- 
berg,  of  Leipsic,  and  Geneva.  That  of  Wittemberg  was  put  forth  by  the 
immediate  disciples  of  Luther. 

t  Glossa  in  Edict.  Imperiale.  Opera  Lat.  tom.  xx.  Apud  D'Au- 
bigne i,  172. 

X  Properly  called  the  "  scala  santa,"  or  "  holy  stairway  ;"  from  having 
been  once  consecrated  by  the  Saviour's  footsteps,  while  he  was  enter- 
ing into  the  pretorium  to  be  judged  by  Pilate. 


CAUSES  AND  MANNER  OF  THE  REFORMATION.      95 

from  the  Epistle  of  St.  James,  he  rejected  this  Epistle 
*'  as  one  of  straw  ;"  and  that,  to  confirm  this  doctrine 
still  more,  he  boldly  corrupted  the  text  of  St.  Paul — 
(Romans  iii,  28)  '*  for  we  account  a  man  to  be  justified 
by  faith  v\ithout  the  works  of  the  law" — by  adding  the 
word  alone  after  faif/i:  and  that,  when  challenged  on  the 
subject,  he  made  this  characteristic  reply:  "So  I  will — 
so  I  order.  Let  my  will  stand  for  a  reason."*  So  much 
had  he  this  doctrine  at  heart ! 

He  pushed  this  tenet  to  the  utmost  extremes,  and 
boldly  avowed  all  the  consequences  which  logically  flowed 
from  it.  With  him,  faith  was  every  thing — works  were 
nothing.  On  the  1st  of  August,  1521,  he  wrote  from  the 
Wartburg  a  letter  to  Melancthon,  from  which  the  follow- 
ing is  an  extract:  **  Sin,  and  sin  boldly;  but  let  your 
faith  be  greater  than  your  sin.  It  is  enough  for  us, 
through  the  riches  of  the  glory  of  God,  to  have  known  the 
Lamb  of  God  who  takes  away  the  sin  of  the  world.  -Sin 
will  not  destroy  in  us  the  reign  of  the  Lamb,  although  we 
were  to  commit  fornication  or  to  kill  a  thousand  times 
in  one  day."t  In  his  "  Treatise  on  Christian  liberty," 
which  he  sent  along  with  a  most  brutal  letter^  to  Leo  X, 
in  1520,  "as  a  pledge  of  his  filial  piety  and  love,''  he 
lays  down  as  doctrines  founded  on  the  gospel  :  **  the  in- 
compatibility of  faith  with  woi  ks,  which  he  regarded  as  so 
many  sins  ;  the  subjection  of  the  creature  to  the  demon, 
even  when  he  endeavors  to  escape  from  him;  and  his 
identification  with  sin,  even  when  he  rises  towards  his 
Creator — when  his  hand   distributes  alms,  when  his  lips 

*  "  Sic  volo — sic  jubeo — slat  pro  ratione  voluntas.'"  He  added  :  "  I 
wish  I  had  also  said,  '  without  any  of  the  works,  oi  all  laws  !'  " 

t  "  Sufficit  quod  agnovimus  per  divitias  glorise  Dei  Agnum  qui  tollit 
peccatum  mundi :  ab  hoc  non  avellet  nos  peccatum  etiamsi  millies  uno 
die  fornicemur  aut  occidamus."  Epist.  Melanc.  1  Aug.  1521.  Apud 
Audin,  p.  178. 

X  See  this  savage  letter  in  Audin,  p.  110,  111.  It  was  written  before 
the  papal  bull  had  been  issued,  shortly  after  his  conference  with  Mil- 
titz,  in  which  he  had  given  and  received  the  kiss  of  peace !  I 


96  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

open  to  pray,  or  invoke  a  blessing,  and  even  when  he 
weeps  and  repents — he  sins  :  *  for,'  says  he,  *  all  that  is 
in  us  is  crime,  sin,  damnation,  and  man  can  do  nothing 
good.'  "*  On  the  contrary,  sin  is  not  imputed  to  those 
who  have  faith  :  *'  because,"  says  he,  *'  although  I  have 
sinned,  Christ  who  is  within  me  has  not  sinned  :  this 
Christ,  in  whom  I  believe,  acts,  thinks,  and  lives  in  me, 
and  alone  accomplishes  the  law."t 

Another  cardinal  doctrine  of  Luther's,  much  akin  to 
this,  was  the  denial  of  free  will,  and  the  assertion  that  all 
our  actions  are  the  result  of  stern  fatalism.  He  v/rote  a 
work  expressly  on  "  the  slave  will,"!  and  carried  on  a 
rude  controversy  with  Erasmus  on  this  subject.  His 
principles  in  this  matter  are  explicitly  and  openly  avowed. 
According  to  him,  free  will  is  incompatible  with  the  di- 
vine foreknowledge.  *'  Let  the  Christian  know,  then, 
that  God  foresees  nothing  in  a  contingent  manner ;  but 
that  he  foresees,  proposes,  and  acts  from  his  eternal  and 
unchangeable  will.  This  is  the  thunder-stroke  which 
breaks  and  overturns  free  will."§  God  is  thus  plainly  the 
author  of  sin,  and  Luther  shrinks  not  from  the  avowal ! 
He  maintains  **  that  God  excites  us  to  sin,  and  produces 
sin  in  us  :"||  and  that  **  God  damns  some  who  have  not 
merited  this  lot,  and  others  before  they  were  born."^ 
Man's  nature,  according  to  him,  is  thoroughly  and  radi- 
cally corrupted  :  he  is  a  mere  automaton.  *'  Man  is  like 
a  beast  of  burden:    if  God  sits  in  the  saddle,  he  wills  and 

*  Apud  Audin,  p.  111. 

t  Ibid.  See  Episiola  Lulheriana  ad  Leonem  summum  Pontiftcem. 
Liber  de  Libertate  Christiana.    Wittemb.  1520,  4to. 

X  "  De  Servo  jlrbiirio,''  in  opposition  to  the  usual  term,  "  liberum  ar- 
bitrium." 

§  De  Servo  Arbit.  adv.  Erasm.  Rotcrod.  Luth.  0pp.  Lat.  Jenae,  torn. 
iii,  p.  170,  seqq, 

II  Opera  Jenae,  iii,  199.  Wittemb.  tom.  vi,  fol.  522,  523.  '^ Dass 
Goit  die  menschcn  zur  s'unde  antreibe,  und  alle  lasier  in  ihnem  icurcke.^' 

II  Ibid.  Jenae  edit,  iii,  207— Witt,  vi,  534,  535— Altenb.  iii,  2l9,  250. 


CAUSES    AND    MANNER    OF    THE    REFORMATION.  97 

goes  whithersoever  God  wills  ;  ...  if  Sa<an  ride  him, 
he  wills  and  goes  whither  Satan  directs  :  nor  is  it  in  his 
power  to  determine  his  rider — the  two  riders  contend  for 
obtaining  and  possessing  him."*  This  is  truly  a  charac- 
teristic illustration  of  a  most  hideous  doctrine! 

Inhisiamous  speech  at  the  diet  of  Worms,  in  1521, 
he  expressed  his  delight  at  the  prospect  that  his  doctrine 
would  produce  discord  and  dissension  :  "  You  must  know 
that  I  have  well  weighed  the  dangers  that  I  incur,  the 
displeasure  that  T  cause,  and  the  hatred  which  my  doctrine 
will  excite  in  this  world.  I  delight  to  see  the  word  of 
God  bring  forth  discord  and  dissension.  This  is  the  lot 
of  the  Saviour,  who  says  :  *  I  am  come  not  to  bring  peace 
but  the  sword  ;  I  am  come  to  separate  the  son  from  the 
father.'  "t  Was  there  ever  a  more  fiendish  joy,  or  a 
more  glaring  perversion  of  God's  holy  word  ? 

He  rejected  continence  with  horror,  and  looked  on  the 
law  of  celibacy  as  an  "  awful  blindness — a  relentless  cru- 
elty of  the  pope — a  diabolical  precept — an  imposing  of  an 
obligation  which  is  impossible  to  human  nature.":]:  In 
1522  he  wrote  a  letter  to  the  knights  of  the  Teutonic 
order,  in  which  he  urged  them,  by  arguments  pandering 
to  the  basest  passions  of  the  human  heart,  to  rid  them- 
selves of  this  '*  diabolical"  yoke.  We  almost  shrink 
from  transcribing  the  following  passage  from  this  appeal, 
which  was,  alas  !  too  successful.  "My  friends,  the  pre- 
cept of  multiplying  is  older  than  that  of  continence  en- 
joine<l  by  the  councils"  (and  he  should  have  added,  sanc- 
tioned  by  the  most  solemn  vows,  voluntarily  made,  the 

*  "  Sic  humana  voluntas  in  medio  posiia  est  ceu  jumenium  :  siinsederit 
Veils,  vuli  et  vadil  sicut  vult  Deus  ;  .  .  .  si  insederit  Satan,  rult  ct  vadit 
sicut  Satan :  nee  est  in  ejus  arbitrio  ad  vtrum  sessorem  currerc,  aut  eum 
gucerere,  sed  ipsi  sessores  certant  ad  ipsum  obtinendum  et  possidendum." 
Opera,  Jenae,  hi,  176,  177. 

t  Apud  Aiidiri,  p.  163.     D'Aubigne,  ii,  235. 

X  "  Perinde  facere  qui  continenier  vivere  institnunt,  ac  si  quis  excre- 
mcnta  vet  lotiuin  contra  natures  impetnm  retincre  vdit.'^    Luther,  Contra 
falsa  Edicta  Csesaiis,  T.  ii. 
9 


98  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

binding  obligation  of  which  he  himself  had  recognized 
but  one  year  before*) :  "  it  dates  from  Adam.  It  would 
be  better  to  live  in  concubinage  than  in  chastity.  Chas- 
tity is  an  unpardonable  sin  ;  whereas  concubinage,  with 
God's  assistance,  should  not  make  us  despair  of  salva- 
tion."! 

He  rejected  in  fact  every  doctrine,  and  abolished  every 
practice  of  the  Catholic  church,  which  was  humbling  to 
human  pride,  painful  to  corrupt  nature,  or  which  imposed 
a  salutary  restraint  on  the  passions.  Confession  he  re- 
jected, as  the  "  executioner  of  consciences. "J  He  es- 
chewed monastic  vows,  fasting  and  abstinence,  and  pro- 
scribed good  works  and  free  will.  In  his  new-fangled 
religion,  the  ministers  of  God  were  no  longer  bound  to 
say  mass,  or  to  read  the  divine  office  ;  this  would  have 
been  an  intolerable  burden,  incompatible  with  Christian 
liberty  !  In  fact,  he  was  no  great  advocate  for  prayer  at 
all — especially  for  frequent  prayer :  *'  for,"  he  says,  **  it 
is  enough  to  pray  once  or  twice;  since  God  has  said  *  ask 
and  you  shall  receive;'  to  continue  always  in  prayer,  is 
to  show  that  we  have  not  faith  in  God."§  He  forgot  to 
mention  that  Christ  had  also  said  :  *'  pray  always  and  faint 
not:"  and  St.  Paul,  "  pray  without  intermission." 

What,  in  fine,  was  left  in  his  new  system  of  Christianity 
to  fulfil  those  essential  conditions  of  discipleship,  which 
our  blessed  Lord  pointed  out,  when  he  said  :  "if  any  man 
will  come  after  me,  let  him  deny  himself  and  take  up  his 
cross,  and  follow  me  ?"|1  Or  to  imitate  the  example  of  St. 
Piiul — whose   great  admirer  Luther  affected  to  be — when 

*  Supra,  p.  61. 
f  "  In  staht  scorfationis  vel  peccaii,  Dei  prcssidio  ijnploraio,  de  aaluie 
non  deaperandum."    Ad  Milites  Ord.  Teutonici,  0pp.  Jenae,  torn,  ii,  p. 
211-216. 

\  "  Comdcniicc  carnificina.'" 
§  Letter  to  Bartholomew  Voii  Starenburg;   1  Sept.,  1523. — Audin 
p.  208. 

fl  Matth.  xvi,  24. 


CAUSES    AND    MANNER  OF  THE    REFORMATION.  99 

he  savs  of  himself:  "  I  chastise  mj  body,  and  bring  it  in- 
to subjection,  lest  perhaps,  when  I  have  preached  to 
others,  T  myself  should  become  reprobate  ?"* 

M.  D'Aubigne,  though  he  professes  to  give  a  very  de- 
tailed history  of  the  reformation,  found  it  corivenienty 
however,  to  forget,  or  at  least  to  pretermit  most  of  the 
facts  related  above  ;  which,  however,  are  essential  to  the 
history !  But  they  did  not  suit  his  purpose,  which  was  to 
persuade  the  world,  that  Luther  and  his  associates  were 
new  apostles  of  God,  and  that  the  reformation  was  but 
"the  re-appearance  of  Christianity!"  His  whole  view,  in 
fact,  of  Luther's  doctrine,  and  of  the  entire  reformation, 
is  a  miserable  perversion  of  history — an  ill -contrived  ro- 
mance. His  picture  is  no  doubt  viewed  with  delight  by 
those  for  whose  special  benefit  it  was  drawn;  but  it  ia 
false  in  almost  every  light  and  shade  !  Else  why  did  he 
omit  so  many  essential  facts  ? 

What  was  the  necessary  tendency  of  these  new  doc- 
trines of  Luther?  Were  they  calculated  to  effect  a  reform 
in  morals  and  religion  ?  Or  was  their  influence  on  society 
essentially  evil  ?  To  aid  us  in  answering  these  questions, 
we  will  adduce  the  evidence  of  a  cotemporary  official 
document  of  the  Germanic  empire — an  extract  from  the 
decree  of  the  Diet  of  Worms  in  1521 — which  decree  M. 
D'Aubigne  professes  to  give  us  entire.t  "The  Augustine 
monk,  Martin  Luther,  regardless  of  our  exhortations,  has 
madly  attacked  the  holy  church,  and  attempted  to  destroy 
it,  by  writings  full  of  blasphemy.  He  has  shamefully  vili- 
fied the  unalterable  law  of  holy  marriage;  he  has  labored 
to  excite  the  laity  to  imbrue  their  hands  in  the  blood  of 
their  priests;:}:  and,  defying  all  authority,  has  incessantly 
excited  the  people  to  revolt,   schism,  war,  murder,  theft, 

•  1  Corinth,  ix,  27.  f  Vol.  ii,  p.  261  seqq. 

X  The  Diet  here  cites  Luther's  works;  and  M.  D'Aubigne  furnishes 
the  reference  to  the  present  works  of  the  reformer.— Luther  0pp.  Lat. 
xvii,  598. 


100  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

incendiarism,  and  the  utter  destruction  of  the  Christian 
faith.  .  .  .  In  a  word,  and  passing  over  many  other.,£xil 
intentions,  this  being,  who  is  no  man,  but  Satan  himself, 
under  the  semBIanl!B-ofTrtYttnT-TTrXTnonKTiood,  has^col- 
lected  in  one  offensive  ma^satrtTie'lv^rs^^  for- 

mer ages,  adding  his  own  to  the  number."  Making  all 
proper  allowance  for  the  circumstance  that  this  document 
emanated  from  a  body  opposed  to  Luther,  it  is  still  a  sat- 
isfactory proof  of  the  evil  tendency  of  his  doctrines. 
Would  the  great  Charles  V, — would  the  first  princes  of 
the  empire — in  an  official  document,  have  stated  facts  at 
random,  and  without  sufficient  warrant  ?  They  were  com- 
petent v.'itnesses  of  events  passing  under  their  own  eyes  ; 
they  could  scarceh^  be  deceived,  and  they  would  not  have 
hazarded  false  statements,  which  could  have  been  so 
readily  refuted. 

But,  if  the  doctrines  of  Luther  were  not  adapted  to  the 
reformation  of  the  church,  they  were  at  least  easy  and  flat- 
tering to  human  nature  ;  and,  under  these  points  of  view, 
they  were  powerful  means  of  rapidly  diff"using  the  pre- 
tended reformation  which  was  predicated  on  them.  Luther 
could  hope  through  their  instrumentality,  to  gain  over  to 
his  party,  the  wicked  of  every  class  in  society.  To  the 
corrupt  among  the  priests  and  monks,  he  held  out  the 
inducements  of  getting  rid  of  the  painful  duties  of  their 
state — of  bidding  adieu  to  vigils,  to  matins  and  to  prayers 
— and  of  crowning  their  apostacy  with  the  blooming  gar- 
lands of  hymen  I  To  the  unmortified — and  these  were  a 
very  large  class — he  promised  exemption  from  confession, 
from  fasts  and  from  long  prayers.  To  the  proud  and  pre- 
sumptuous— and  their  number  was  legion — he  off'ered  the 
flattering  principle  of  private  judgment  in  matters  of  reli- 
gion ;  assuring  them,  that  every  one,  no  matter  how  stupid 
or  ignorant,  had  an  equal  right,  with  the  learned,  and  the 
talented,  to  expound  the  Scriptures  for  himself. 

How  consoling  this  assurance  to  the  old  lady,  who,  sit- 
ting in  tiic  chimney  corner,  had  been  hitherto   content  to 


CAUSES  AND  MANNER  OF  TUB  REFORMATION.     101 

con  her  prayers  in  private — to  abide  by  the  decisions  of 
the  church,  which  Christ  had  commanded  her  to  hear,  un- 
der penalty  of  being  reckoned  *'  with  heathens  and  publi- 
cans"— and  to  leave  the  thorny  paths  of  theological  con- 
troversy to  the  more  skilful  and  learned  !  She  awoke  to 
new  life — her  eyes  sparkled  again  with  the  joys  of  youth — 
and  she  burst  forth  into  a  canticle  of  praise  to  the  Lord, 
for  her  emancipation  from  the  degrading  servitude  of  po- 
pery !  And,  what  bright  careers  of  glory  were  opened  to 
the  ambition  of  young  students  in  the  universities,  who, 
through  the  new  doctrines,  could  hope  to  shine  in  the  pul- 
pit, and  to  settle  themselves  advantageously  in  the  world, 
with  their  wives  and  families:  and  all  this  without  any 
sacrifice,  or  any  great  previous  labor  in  preparing  them- 
selves for  the  ministry !  Verily,  as  Melancthon  had  said 
to  his  dying  mother:  *•  the  way  of  the  reformers  was  more 
convenient' ' — and  what  mattered  it,  '*  if  that  of  the  Catho- 
lics was  more  safe!"  This  was  a  consideration  of  minor 
importance ;  or  of  weight  only  at  the  hour  of  death !  And 
what  thought  they  of  death  ? 

But  the  chief  resource  of  Luther,  for  establishing  and 
consolidating  his  new  religion,  lay  in  the  fostering  pro- 
tection of  princes.  He  understood  this,  and  he  accordingly 
determined  to  gain  them  over  to  his  party,  by  the  most 
immoderate  flattery,  and  by  pandering  to  their  worst  pas- 
sions. The  great  and  moderate  Frederick  Von  Schlegel 
assures  us  of  this.  "Luther  was  by  no  means  an  advo- 
cate for  democracy,  like  Zuinglius  and  Calvin,*  but  he 
asserted  the  absolute  power  of  princes,  though  he  made 
his  advocacy  subservient  to  his  own  religious  views  and 
projects.  It  was  by  such  conduct  and  the  influence  which 
he  thereby  acquired,  as  well  as  by  the  sanction  of  the  civil 
power,  that  the  reformation  was  promoted  and  consoli- 
dated.     W^ithout  this.  Protestantism  would  have   sunk 

*  Wc  shall  see  in  the  sequel  what  kind  of  "  advocates  for  democracy" 
they  were. 

9*^ 


102  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

into  the  lawless  anarchy  which  marked  the  proceedings  of 
the  Hussites,  and  to  which  the  war  of  the  peasants  rapidly 
tended;  and  it  would  have  been  inevitably  suppressed, 
like  all  other  popular  commotions."*  The  whole  history 
of  the  reformation  proves  the  justice  of  these  remarks. 

Luther  thoroughly  understood  his  true  policy  in  regard 
to  princes,  and  he  never  failed  to  carry  it  out.  Even  as 
late  as  1530,  when  Charles  V  was  about  to  enter  Augs- 
burg to  attend  the  diet  assembled  there,  he  cherished  hopes 
of  gaining  over  this  great  emperor  to  his  party.  In  his 
letters  and  other  writings  about  this  time,  he  painted 
Charles  V  **  as  a  man  of  God,  an  envoy  of  heaven,  a  new 
Augustus,  the  admiration  and  delight  of  the  whole  world. "t 
But  when  the  emperor  published  at  that  same  diet  his  fa- 
mous conciliatory  decree — by  which  he  merely  allowed  to 
the  Protestants  the  free  **  enjoyment  of  their  temples  and 
creeds,"  but  enjoined  silence  on  them  until  the  meeting 
of  the  general  council — the  whole  scene  changed.  Charles 
was  no  longer  **a  new  Augustus;"  but  *'heand  his  coun- 
sellors were  not  even  men,  but* gates  of  hell' — ^judges 
who  could  not  judge  his  cause,  and  to  whom  he  would  not 
give  up  a  hair  of  his  head."J 

We  have  already  seen  how  meanly  subservient  he  was 
on  all  occasions  to  his  immediate  sovereign,  the  elector  of 
Saxony.  This  prince  was  the  most  powerful  protector 
of  the  reformation,  and,  as  we  shall  see,  reaped  a  golden 
harvest  for  his  protection.  But  he  had  another  motive 
for  defending  Luther  and  his  partisans.  Luther  and  Me- 
lancthon  were  the  principal  professors  in  his  cherished 
university  of  Wittemberg;  and  their  great  talents  had 
attracted  to  it  vast  numbers  of  youth  from  all  parts  of 
Germany.  At  the  period  of  the  reformation,  the  univer- 
sity became  the  focus  of  the  new  doctrines,  and  the  ren- 

♦  "Philosophy  of  History,"  vol.  ii,  p.  205,  G:  edit.  Appleton  8c  Co. 
N.  York,  1841. 

I  See  the  authorities  quoted  by  Audin,  p.  440.  t  Ibid. 


CAUSES    AND    MANNER    OF    THE    REFORMATION.  1Q3 

dezvous  of  all  who  favored  them.  The  attractive  nov- 
elty, the  stirrino;  interest,  the  startling  boldness  of  these 
new  tenets,  together  with  the  rude  but  overpowering  elo- 
quence of  Luther,  and  the  winning  graces  and  versatile 
genius  of  Melancthon,  rendered  this  university  famous 
throughout  Germany.  The  elector  could  not  but  look 
with  complacency  on  the  men  who  shed  such  lustre  on 
an  institution  which  he  had  erected,  and  the  prosperity  of 
which  was  identified  with  his  own  glory.  This  was  one 
of  the  reasons  which  first  inclined  him  to  favor  Luther. 
It  is  not  a  little  remarkable,  too,  that  this  same  univer- 
sity of  Wittemberg  was  erected  chiefly  from  the  proceeds 
of  those  very  indulgences,  the  inveighing  against  which 
was  the  first  movement  of  the  reformation  ! 

A  remarkable  instance  of  Luther's  mean  subserviency 
to  princes,  is  the  permission  which  he  and  his  chief  parti- 
zans  gave  to  Philip,  landgrave  of  Hesse,  to  have  two 
wives  at  once  !  This  fact  is  as  astounding  as  it  is  un- 
doubted. Philip  had  been  married  for  sixteen  years  to 
Christiana,  daughter  of  George,  duke  of  Saxony  ;  and  he 
had  already  several  children.  According  to  Menzel,  a 
Protestant  historian,  he  was  ''  violent  and  passionate,  un- 
faithful and  superstitious."*  But  he  was  a  good  Lu- 
theran, nay,  one  of  the  most  powerful  friends  of  the  re- 
formation ;  and  he  read  his  Bible  incessantly.  He  be- 
came enamored  of  Margaret  Saal,  a  maid  of  honor  to  his 
sister  Elizabeth.  She  proved  inexorable,  and  the  land- 
grave lost  his  appetite,  and  was  seized  with  a  fit  of  de- 
spondency. In  this  distress,  he  h^d  recourse  to  his  Bi- 
ble :  he  opened  it  at  the  fifth  chapter  of  Genesis,  and, 
finding  that  Lamech  had  had  two  wives  at  once,  he 
resolved  to  imitate  his  example. 

He  however  thought  it  advisable  to  seek  counsel  at  the 
hands  of  the  principal  reformers.  Through  Martin  Bucer, 
a  learned  reformed  theologian,  and  a  devoted  courtier  of 

*  Ncucre  Gcschichie  der  Deutchen,  torn.  i. 


104 

his,  he  proposed  his  case  of  conscience  to  the  '*  new  apos- 
tles" of  VVittemberg.  He  stated  "  that  he  could  not  ab- 
stain from  fornication,  and  that  lie  must  expect  eternal 
damnation  unless  he  changed  his  life :  that,  when  he 
espoused  Christiana,  it  was  not  through  inclination  or 
love  :  that  the  officers  of  his  court  and  her  maids  of  honor 
might  be  examined  regarding  her  temper,  her  charms, 
and  her  love  of  wine  :  that  he  had  read  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment that  many  holy  personages,  Abraham,  Jacob,  David, 
and  Solomon,  had  many  wives,  and  yet  pleased  God: 
and  that,  finally,  he  had  resolved  to  renounce  his  licen- 
tious habits,  which  he  could  not  do,  unless  he  could  get 
Margaret  for  his  wife.  He.  therefore  asks  Luther  and 
Philip  to  grant  him  what  he  requested." 

The  case  was  plainly  and  roundly  stated ;  and  the  an- 
swer was  no  less  direct.  It  was  divided  into  twenty  four 
articles,  and  was  signed  by  the  eight  principal  reformers 
of  Wittemberg — Luther,  Melancthon,  Bucer,  Anthony 
Corvin,  Adam,  L  Leningen,  J.  Vinfert,  and  D.  Melanther. 
The  twenty-first  article  runs  as  follows  :  '*  If  your  high- 
ness is  resolved  to  marry  a  second  wife,  we  judge  that  it 
should  be  done  privately,  as  we  have  said  when  speaking 
of  the  dispensation  you  have  asked  for.  There  should  be 
no  one  present,  but  the  bride  and  a  few  witnesses  who 
are  aware  of  the  circumstance,  and  who  would  be  bound 
to  secrecy,  as  if  under  the  seal  of  confession.  Thus  all 
opposition  and  great  scandal  will  be  avoided  ;  for  it  is 
not  unusual  for  princes  to  have  concubines,  and  although 
the  people  take  scandal  at  it,  the  more  enlightened  will 
suspect  the  truth.  We  ought  not  to  be  very  anxious 
about  what  the  world  will  say,  provided  the  conscience  be 
at  rest.  Thus  we  approve  of  it.  Your  highness  has  then, 
in  this  writing,  our  approbation  in  all  the  exigencies  that 
may  occur,  as  also  the  reflections  we  have  made  on 
them." 

The  marriage  took  place  on  the  Sd  of  March,  1540,  in 
the  presence  of  Melancthon,  Bucer,  and  other  theologians. 


CAUSES    AND    MANNER    OF    TUB    RErORMATION,  105 

The  marriage  contract  was  drawn  up  by  a  Lutheran  doc- 
tor, and  duly  signed  by  a  notary  public.  In  this  instru- 
ment Philip  declares  "  that  he  does  not  take  Margaret 
lightly,  or  througli  contempt  of  the  civil  law;  but  solely 
for  other  considerations,  and  because,  without  a  second 
wife,  he  could  not  live  godly,  or  merit  heaven  !"*  Was 
there  ever  a  more  startling  instance  of  utter  depravity 
and  unprincipled  sycophancy  !  Here,  then,  is  a  Protest- 
ant "  indulgence,"  in  the  very  sense  attached  to  the 
term  by  Protestant  writers  !  And  these  men  claimed  to 
be  sent  by  God  to  reform  the  church !  !t 

By  such  means  as  these  did  the  reformers  secure  the 
protection  of  princes.  What  was  the  character  of  such 
of  these  as  espoused  the  reformation  ?  Were  they  men 
whose  lives  reflected  honor  on  the  new  religion,  and  gave 
a  pledge  of  the  purity  of  motives  which  had  led  to  its 
adoption  ?  Let  us  see.  In  the  first  place,  there  was 
John,  elector  of  Saxony,  who,  according  to  Menzel,^  was 
one  of  the  most  gluttonous  princes  of  his  age,  fond  of 
wine  and  of  good  cheer,  and  whose  stomach,  overcharged 
with  excessive  feeding,  was  supported  by  an  iron  circle. 
**  He  had  enriched  his  sideboard — the  best  furnished  in 
all  Germany — with  vessels  of  all   sorts  taken  from  the 

*  See  the  Insirumenium  Copulationis  Pkilippi  landgrave  et  Margariia 
de  Saal,  given  in  full  by  Bossiiet,  Variations,  vol.  i.  See  also  Ad. 
Menzel,  a  Protestant,  torn,  ii,  pp.  179,  192  ;  and  Audin,  p.  479. 

t  Those  who  wish  to  see  all  the  documents  connected  with  this  dis- 
graceful proceeding,  are  referred  to  Bossuet's  "  Variations,"  book  vi, 
and  to  Bayle's  Dictionary,  art.  Luther.  They  were  kept  hidden  for  a 
long  time,  until  Charles  Lewis,  the  elector  palatine,  published  them  to 
the  world.  There  is  no  doubt  whatever  as  to  their  genuineness.  Bayle 
twits  the  reformers  on  their  mean  subserviency  to  the  landgrave,  who, 
he  shrewdly  suspects,  had  thrown  out  "  certain  menaces"  in  case  of 
their  refusal  to  grant  the  asked-for  dispensation  ;  and  made  them  cer- 
tain munificent  promises  in  case  of  their  compliance.  The  latter  he 
fully  redeemed  ;  for  after  the  death  of  Frederick,  elector  of  Saxony,  in 
1525,  he  became  the  great  Ajax  of  the  reformation  party  in  Germany, 
M.  D'Aubign^  admits  this. 

I  Ad.  Menzel,  Neuere  Gcschichic,  torn,  i,  fol.  338. 


106  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

refectories  of  the  monasteries,  or  the  sacristies  of  the 
churches."*  He  embraced  eagerly  a  religion  wliich  had 
abolished  fasting,  and  which  permitted  him  to  indulge  his 
favorite  appetite  without  restraint.  Then  came  the  pious 
and  scrupulous  Philip,  landgrave  of  Hesse,  whose  troubled 
conscience  was  soothed  by  the  panacea  to  which  we  have 
just  alluded.  The  second  pillar  of  the  reformation  had 
inscribed  on  the  clothes  of  the  domestics  who  served  him 
at  table,  the  initials  V.  D.  M.  I.  JFi.,  signifying  Verhum 
Domini  manet  in  seternum — *'  the  word  of  the  Lord  re- 
maineth  for  ever  !"  Lastly  came  Wolfgang,  prince  of 
Anhalt,  whose  stupid  ignorance  was  proverbial :  and 
"Ernest  and  Francis  Lunenberg,  who  did  not  trouble 
their  vassals  to  pillage  the  churches,  but  with  their  own 
hands  despoiled  the  tabernacles  of  their  sacred  vessel8."t 
Such  were  the  princes  to  whose  patronage  the  reformation 
was  indebted  for  its  success  and  permanency ! 

To  secure  their  protection,  which  was  essential  to  the 
triumph  of  his  cause,  Luther  left  no  means  untried.  He 
recklessly  appealed  to  the  worst  passions  which  sway  the 
human  bosom.  He  held  out  to  them,  as  baits,  the  rich 
booty  of  the  Catholic  churches  and  monasteries.  He  said 
to  them,  in  a  publication  entitled  Argyrophijax :  "You 
will  find  out,  within  a  few  months,  how  many  hundred 
thousand  gold  pieces  the  monks  and  that  class  of  men 
possess  within  a  small  portion  of  your  territory. "J  He 
acknowledged,  in  one  of  his  sermons,  "  that  the  church 
ostensories  made  many  converts  to  the  new  gospel. "§ 
And  M.  Audin  is  entirely  correct  in  his  caustic  remark, 
*'  that  the  convent  spoils  resembled  the  martyrs'  blood, 

*  Audin,  p.  424.  f  Id.  p.  425. 

X  "  Experiemini  intra  paucos  menses,  quot  centum  aureorummillia  unius 
exigucB  ditionis  vcstrcB  monachi  et  id  genus  hominum  possideant."  Cf. 
Cochlaeus,  p.  149. 

§  "  Viele  sind  noch  fiiut  evangelisch,  well  es  noch  Caiholische  monstran- 
zen  gibt."  Luther  Pred.  xii,  apud  Jak.  Marx.  p.  174,  and  Menzel,  torn, 
i,  pp.  371-9. 


CAUSES    AND    MANNER    OF    THE    REFORMATTON.         107 

mentioned  bj  Tertullian,  and  brought  forth  daily  new 
disciples  to  the  reformation."* 

It  was  cupidity  that  induced  Albert  of  Brandenburg 
to  apostatize  from  the  Catholic  church,  *'  that  he  might 
plunder,  with  a  safe  conscience,  the  country  of  Prussia, 
which  belonged  to  the  Teutonic  order" — of  which  order 
he  was  superior  general — **  and  which  he  erected  into  a 
hereditary  principality."!  Francis  Von  Sickengen  was 
another  of  these  spoilers,  who,  at  the  head  of  twelve  thou- 
sand men,  "  invaded  the  archbishopric  of  Treves,  track- 
ing his  path  by  the  blood  he  shed,  the  churches  he  pil- 
laged, and  the  licentious  excesses  of  his  soldiery.":}:  He 
was  but  one  of  those  powerful  robbers  who,  according  to 
the  testimony  of  an  ancient  historian,  then  converted 
Germany,  once  so  powerful  and  noble,  into  a  den  of 
thieves. §  The  candid  Melancthon  **  avowed  that  in  the 
triumph  of  the  reformation  the  princes  looked  not  to  the 
purity  of  doctrine,  or  the  propagation  of  light,  to  the  tri- 
umph of  a  creed,  or  the  improvement  of  morals,  but  only 
regarded  the  profane  and  miserable  interests  of  this 
world."!| 

The  rich  spoils  of  the  Catholic  church  and  of  the  mon- 
asteries not  only  induced  many  princes  of  the  Germanic 
body  to  embrace  the  reformation,  but  also  caused  them  to 
persevere  in  the  cause  they  had  thus  espoused.  In  the 
famous  diet  of  Augsburg,  in  1530,  the  conciliatory  course 
of  Melancthon,  who  there  represented  the  reformed  party, 
bade  fair  to  heal  the  rupture,  by  reconciling  the  Protest- 
ants to  the  Catholic  church.  But  the  Catholic  theologians 
insisted  on  two  things:  that  the  married  priests  should 
abandon  their  wives,  and  that  the  Protestant  princes  should 

*  P.  S45.  t  Rotteck,  p.  93.    Apud  Audin.     Ibid.  X  Ibid. 

§  "  Potentissima  Germania  et  nobilissima,  sed  ea  tota  nunc  unum 
latrocinium  est,  et  ille  inter  nobiles  gloriosior  qui  rapacior."  Campa- 
nus  ad  Freher-Script.  German,  torn,  ii,  p.  294,  295. 

II  *'  Sie  beciimmerten  sich  gar  nicht  um  die  lehre,  es  sie  ihnen  blosz 
um  die  freiheit,  und  die  herrschaft  zu  thun."    Apud  Audin,  p.  313. 


108  D'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

restore  the  goods  of  the  church  upon  which  they  had  seized. 
The  former  condition  would  probably  have  been  complied 
with;  but,  as  Erasmus  remarks,  "the  Lutheran  princes 
would  not  hear  any  thing  about  restitution."*  The  same 
insurmountable  difficulty  interposed  when,  five  years 
later,  Rome  made  her  last  effort  towards  bringing  back 
the  Protestant  party  to  the  bosom  of  the  Catholic  church. 
The  benevolent  labors  of  Cardinal  Verger,  legate  of  Paul 
III,  in  1535,  might  not  have  proved  abortive,  but  for  the 
indomitable  insolence  of  Luther,t  and  the  refusal  of  the 
princes  of  his  party  to  disgorge  their  ill-gotten  plunder. 

After  all  this,  we  can  scarcely  restrain  a  smile,  on  hear- 
ing the  lamentations  of  Luther  over  the  rapacity  of  the 
princes  of  his  party,  whom  he  himself  had  excited  to  the 
unholy  work  of  spoliation.  "  To  the  d — 1,"  he  cried  out 
in  a  rage,  *'  with  senators,  manor  lords,  princes,  and 
mighty  nobles,  who  do  not  leave  for  the  preachers,  the 
priests,  the  servants  of  the  gospel,  wherewith  to  support 
their  ivives  and  children  J^^X  '^^ey  were,  it  seems,  more 
rapacious  than  even  he  could  have  desired.  **  They  gave, 
with  admirable  generosity,  the  sacred  vessels  of  the  secu- 
larized monastery  to  the  parish  priest,  provided,  however, 
he  had  adopted  Lutheranism.  The  rest  went  to  their 
mistresses,  their  courtiers,  their  dogs,  and  their  horses. 
Some,  who  were  as  greedy  as  the  landgrave  of  Hesse, 
kept  even  the  habits  and  sacerdotal  vestments,  the  tapes- 
tries, the  chased  silver  vases,  and  the  vessels  of  the  sanc- 
tuary."§  They  would  not  abide  by  Luther's  rules  for 
the  partition  of  the  confiscated  property  :11  and  hence  the 
wrath  of  the  reformer ! 

He  indeed  occasionally  condemned  this  rapacity  in  a 
voice  of  thunder:  he   sometimes  clothed  himself  in  the 

*  "  Res  propemodum  ad  concordiam  deducta  est,  nisi  quod  Lutherani 
principes  nihil  audire  voluerunt  de  restituendo."     Erasm.  Ep.  p.  998. 

t  For  an  account  of  the  outrageous  conduct  of  Luther  to  the  legate^ 
and  of  the  whole  negotiation,  see  Audin,  p.  474.  seqq. 

;   Table  Talk,  cited  by  Jak.  Marx,  p.  175.        §  Audin,  346.       ||  lb. 


CAUSES  AND  MANNER  OF  THE  REFORMATION.    109 

garb  of  a  messenger  of  peace,  and  bewailed  the  violence 
and  other  disorders  which  he  had  himself  occasioned,  and 
even  caused,  by  his  frequent  appeals  to  the  passions. 
But  he  could  not  arrest  the  course  of  the  turbid  torrent 
of  passion,  which  he  himself  had  in  the  first  instance 
caused  to  flow.  As  well  might  he  have  labored  to  turn 
back  the  waters  of  the  Rhine  !  Had  he  not,  in  one  of  his 
inflammatory  appeals  to  the  princes  of  the  empire,  used 
the  following  language,  **  There  is  Rome,  Romagna, 
and  the  duchy  of  Urbino:  there  is  Bologna,  and  the 
states  of  the  church;  take  them:  they  belong  to  you: 
take,  in  God's  name,  what  is  your  own  ?"*  Had  he  not 
threatened  them  with  the  wrath  of  heaven,  in  case  they 
did  not  seize  on  the  property  of  the  monasteri.es  ?t  Had 
he  not,  at  almost  every  page  of  his  works,  made  "a  bru- 
tal appeal  against  the  priests,  a  maddening  shout  against 
the  convents — in  a  word,  had  he  not  preached  up  the  sanc- 
tification  of  robbery,  the  canonization  of  rapine  ?"J 

Erasmus  bears  abundant  evidence  to  the  violence  which 
almost  every  where  marked  the  progress  of  the  reforma- 
tion. We  will  give  an  extract  from  one  of  his  writ- 
ings, premising  the  remark  that  he  was  an  eye-witness 
of  what  he  relates,  and  not  at  least  a  violent  enemy  of  the 
reformers.  **  I  like  to  hear  Luther  say,"  says  he,  "that 
he  does  not  wish  to  take  their  revenues  from  the  priests 
and  monks,  who  have  not  any  other  means  of  support. 
This  is  the  case  probably  at  Strasburg.  But  is  it  so  else- 
where ?  Truly  it  is  laughable  to  say  :  *  we  will  give  food 
to  those  who  apostatize  ;  let  others  starve  if  they  please.' 
Still  more  laughable  to  hear  them  protest  that  they  do  not 
wish  to  harm  anyone.  What!  is  it  no  injury  to  drive 
away  canons  from  their  churches,  monks  from  their  monas- 
teries, and  to  plunder  bishops  and  abbots?  But  '  we  do 
not  kill!'     Why   not?     Because  your  victims  take  the 

*  0pp.  edit.  Jenfe,  torn,  viii,  fol.  209-2 18.    A.  D.  1545. 
t  "Gottloss  seyen  dienigen  die  diese  giiternicht  an  sich  zogen,  und 
sie  besser  verwendeten,  als  die  inonche.  +  Audin,  p.  349. 

10 


110  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

prudent  precaution  of  running  away.  '  We  let  our  ene- 
mies live  peaceably  among  us.'  Who  are  your  enemies? 
Are  all  Catholics  ?  Do  our  bishops  and  priests  regard 
themselves  as  secure  in  the  midst  of  you  ?  If  you  are  so 
mild  and  tolerant,  wherefore  these  emigrations,  and  these 
multiplied  complaints  addressed  to  the  throne?  .  .  .  But 
then,  why  destroy  the  churches  which  they  built?"* 

It  is  curious  to  mark  the  modus  operandi  of  the  reform- 
ers in  doing  their  godly  work  of  violence  and  spoliation. 
We  will  furnish  a  few  instances  out  of  many.  **  At  Bre- 
men, during  Lent,  the  citizens  got  up  a  masquerade,  in 
which  the  popes,  the  cardinals,  and  nuns  were  repre- 
sented. On  the  place  of  public  execution  they  raised  a 
pile,  on  which  all  these  personifications  of  Catholicity 
were  thrown,  and  burnt,  amidst  shouts  of  joy.  The  re- 
mainder of  the  day  was  spent  in  celebrating,  by  large 
libations,  the  downfall  of  popery. "t 

"  At  Zwickau,  on  Shrove  Tuesday,  hare-nets  were  laid 
on  the  market-place  ;  and  monks  and  nuns,  hunted  by  the 
students,  fell  into  them,  and  w^ere  caught.  At  a  short 
distance  was  the  statue  of  St.  Francis,  tarred  and  feath- 
ered!" Tobias  Schmidt,  the  cotemporary  historian  of 
this  outrage,  here  exclaims:  *•  Thus  fell,  at  Zwickau, 
popery,  and  thus  rose  there  the  pure  light  of  the  gospel  !":j: 
He  assures  us,  in  the  same  place,  that  "a  band  of  citi- 
zens attacked  the  convent,  whose  gates  they  broke,  and, 
when  they  had  pillaged  the  chests  and  the  treasures, 
threw  the  books  about  and  broke  the  windows  :"§  the 
town  authorities,  meantime,  standing  looking  on,  with 
their  arms  crossed,  in  perfect  composure,  without  even 
affecting  indignation  !  Similar  scenes  were  enacted  else- 
where.    •*  At  Elemberg,  the  pastor's  house  was  given  up 

*  "  In  Pseudo-Evangelicos."    Epist.  47,  lib.  xxxi.    London,  Flesher. 
t  Arnold,  1.  c.  th.  2,  bd.  IG,  leap.  6,  s.  60.     Apud  Audin,  p.  847. 
X  "  Also  ist  das  Pabsthiim  abgeschafft  und  hingegen  die  evangelische 
rcine  lehre  fortegeplanzt  worden."    Tob.  Schmidt,  p.  3S6. 
§  Ibid.  p.  334.     Apud  Audin,  p.  34S. 


CAUSES  AND  MANNER  OF  THE  REFORMATION.    Ill 

for  several  hours  to  pillage;  and  one  of  the  students,  who 
was  a  conspicuous  actor  in  this  scene,  which  excited  the 
laughter  of  the  mob,  clothed  himself  in  priests'  vestments, 
and  made  his  entry  on  an  ass  into  the  church."* 

We  must  also  briefly  state  the  tactics  of  Luther's  great 
patron,  John,  elector  of  Saxony,  while  gallantly  attacking 
a  monastery  of  poor  monks,  or  a  convent  of  defenceless 
women.  He  did  not  seek  to  stain  his  victory  with  blood  ; 
he  sought  rather  the  spoils  of  war.  M.  Audin  compares 
him  very  appropriately  to  Verres,  the  rapacious  Roman 
proconsul  of  Sicily,  whom  Cicero  lashed  with  his  wither- 
ing invective.  *'  The  proconsul  of  Sicily  was  not  more 
ingenious  than  Duke  John  of 'Saxony  in  plundering  a 
monastery.  Some  days  before  opening  the  campaign,  he 
was  accustomed  to  send  and  demand  the  register  of  the 
house,  and  then  he  set  out  with  a  brisk  detachment  of 
soldiers.  They  surrounded  the  monastery ;  the  abbot  was 
summoned,  and  the  prince,  holding  the  registry  in  his 
hand,  caused  every  thing  contained  in  it  to  be  deliv- 
ered.'-t 

This  illustrious  example  was  followed  up  by  the  civil 
authorities  at  Rosteck,  Torgau,  and  other  places.  An 
old  chronicle  of  Torgau,  printed  in  1524,  miuutely  de- 
scribes the  revolting  particulars  of  a  nocturnal  excursion 
made  to  the  Franciscan  convent  of  the  city,  by  Leonard 
Koeppe  and  some  other  young  students,  who  made  an 
open  boast  of  their  cruelty  and  profligacy  on  the  occa- 
sion.J  At  Magdeburg  the  magistrates  resolved  to  act 
more  humanely.  They  put  a  stop  to  the  work  of  plunder, 
and  allowed  the  monks  to  remain  quietly  in  their  cells 
during  the  rest  of  their  lives;  "provided,  however,  they 
laid  aside  the  religious  habit,  and  embraced  the  reforma- 

*  See  "  Das  resultat  meiner  wanderungen,"  &c.  Von  Julius  Hon- 
inghaus,  p.  339  ;  and  Audin,  ibid. 

t  Arnold,  loc.  cit.  th.  2.  Bd.  16,  kap.  6,  568,  cited  by  Honinghaus, 
supra.  I  Arnold,  ut  supra. 


112 

tion:"*  and  manj  of  them,  alas!  preferred  apostacj  to 
starvation.  Such  as  would  not  apostatize  were,  in  most 
places,  driven  from  their  convents,  *'  were  reduced  to  beg 
their  bread,  and  were  the  victims  of  heartless  calumny. 
They  seemed  abandoned  by  all.  Art  was  as  ungrateful 
as  mankind :  it  forgot  that  it  owed  its  progress  to  their 
labors.  The  people  laughed  when  they  saw  them  pass 
half  naked,  and  had  no  word  of  pity,  no  sigh  of  compas- 
sion, for  so  many  unfortunate  creatures.  Whither  could 
they  go  }  The  roads  were  not  safe  ;  in  those  times  there 
were  knights  who  scoured  the  high-ways  and  hunted  after 
monks,  whom  they  took  pleasure"  in  making  eunuchs 
"  for  the  greater  glory  of  God  !"t 

With  all  these  facts  before  our  eyes,  can  we  wonder  at 
the  testimony  borne  by  the  diet  of  Worms,  quoted  above, 
as  to  the  character  and  tendency  of  the  Lutheran  doc- 
trines ?  Protestants  have  acknowledged  that  the  reform- 
ation was  indebted  to  this  violence  for  its  successful  es- 
tablishm'ent  in  Germany  and  the  countries  of  the  north. 
We  have  already  seen  the  testimony  of  Melancthon.  Ju- 
rieu,  the  famous  Calvinist  minister  who  had  the  confer- 
ence with  the  great  Bossuet,  acknowledges  **  that  Geneva, 
Switzerland,  the  republics  and  the  free  cities,  the  electors, 
and  the  German  princes,  England,  Scotland,  Sweden,  and 
Denmark,  got  rid  of  popery,  and  established  the  reforma- 
tion, by  the  aid  of  the  civil  power. "J  A  sweeping  admis- 
sion, truly,  as  candid  as  it  is  clearly  founded  on  the  facts 
of  history  ! 

The  great  Frederick  Von  Schlegel  has  v/ell  observed 
that  "  Protestantism  was  the  work  of  man  ;  and  it  appears 
in  no  other  liglit  even  in  the  history  which  its  own  disci- 
ples have  drawn  of  its  origin.     The  partisans  of  the  re- 

*  Marcheineke,  th.  2,  s.  41.     Audin,  ibid. 

t  Ulrich  Hutten  boasts  of  this.  Epist.  ad  Lutherum,  part  ii,  p.  128. 
Cf.  Audin,  p.  200. 

X  Cf.  Jak.  Marx.  "  Die  Ursachen  der  Schncllsn  verbrcitung  der 
Eeibrmation^"  p.  164  ;  apud  Audin,  p.  843. 


CAUSES  AND  MANNER  OF  THE  REFORMATION.    113 

formation  proclaimed  indeed,  at  the  outset,  that,  if  it 
were  more  than  a  human  work,  it  would  endure,  and  that 
its  duration  would  serve  as  a  proof  of  its  divine  origin. 
But  surely  no  one  will  consider  this  an  adequate  proof, 
when  he  reflects  that  the  great  Mohammedan  heresy, 
which,  more  than  any  other,  destroys  and  obliterates  the 
divine  image  stamped  on  the  human  soul,  has  stood  its 
ground  for  full  twelve  hundred  years;  though  this  reli- 
gion, if  it  proceed  from  no  worse  source,  is  at  best  a  human 
work."* 

He  says  also :  "  that  the  reformation  was  established  in 
Denmark  chiefly,  though  not  exclusively,  as  in  Sweden, 
by  the  sovereign  power:  in  Iceland  its  establishment  was 
almost  the  work  of  violence. "t  True,  he  indicates  the 
opinion  that  Protestantism  was  introduced  into  other 
German  countries  **  by  the  torrent  of  popular  opinion  :''J 
but  we  have  already  seen  what  kind  of  a  torrent  this  was, 
what  ruins  it  left  in  its  course ;  how  its  waters  were 
swollen  by  the  rude  eloquence  of  Luther  and  his  parti- 
zans ;  and  how  their  maddening  violence  was  increased 
by  the  lawless  passions  of  the  princes  who  espoused  the 
cause  of  the  reformation  ! 

Our  summary  of  the  means  employed  to  promote  the 
success  of  the  reformation  would  be  incomplete,  without 
adverting  to  one  other  cause  which  contributed,  at  least 
as  much  as  those  already  named,  to  produce  that  effect. 
We  allude  to  the  flagrant  abuse  of  the  press,  which, 
during  that  period,  poured  forth  a  torrent  of  ridicule,  in- 
vective, abuse,  misrepresentation,  and  calumny  against 
the  Catholics,  flooding  all  Germany  with  pestiferous  publi- 
cations. The  violence  of  the  pulpit  powerfully  seconded 
that  of  the  press.  Luther  thundered  from  the  pulpit  of 
All  Saints  at  Wittemberg,  as  well  as  from  those  of  the 
other  principal  cities  of  Saxony.  He  lashed,  with  his 
burning  invectives,  popes,  bishops,  priests,  and  monks  : 

*  "  Philosophy  of  History,"  ii,  218.         f  Ibid.  p.  225.         J  lb.  224. 
10* 


114  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

wherever  his  words  fell  they  were  a  consuming  fire.  In- 
defatigable in  his  exertions,  he  published  book  after 
book,  inflammatory  pamphlet  after  inflammatory  pamph- 
let, against  the  abominations  of  Rome.  His  books  were 
eagerly  sought  after,  and  as  greedily  devoured.  That 
"  On  the  Captivity  of  Babylon,"  in  which  he  painted  the 
pope  as  Antichrist,  went  rapidly  through  ten  editions  ! 
The  annual  book-fairs  at  Leipsic  and  Frankfort  never 
before  presented  so  animated  a  spectacle,  or  drove  so 
brisk  a  business. 

The  works  of  the  champions  of  Catholicity — of  Eck, 
Emser,  Prierias,  and  Hochstraet — found  not  so  ready  a 
sale.  They  had  not  the  overweening  charm  of  novelty ; 
they  dealt  not  in  such  rude  denunciations;  they  were  not 
so  replete  with  ridicule  or  vulgar  conceits  !  Even  the 
veteran  Erasmus,  who  had  been  erewhile  styled  "  the 
prince  of  letters,"  "  the  star  of  Germany,"  "  the  high- 
priest  of  polite  literature" — even  the  witty,  and  polished, 
and  classical  Erasmus  could  not  find  purchasers  for  his 
Hyperasjndes  and  other  works  which  he  had  published, 
after  he  had  at  length  consented  to  enter  the  lists  with 
Luther  !  His  glory  had  faded,  and  the  book-publishers 
complained  of  having  to  keep  his  works  on  hand  unsold ! 

Many  causes  contributed  to  this  result.  In  that  period 
of  maddening  excitement,  nothing  suited  the  popular 
palate  which  was  not  new  and  startling.  The  calm  and 
dignified  defence  of  truth,  alas  !  now  grown  antiquated 
and  obsolete,  could  not  cope  with  the  exciting  character 
and  versatile  graces  of  error.  It  has  been  ever  so.  Per- 
verse human  nature  has  ever  been  inclined  to  relish  what 
is  most  agreeable  to  its  passions.  It  more  readily  believes 
what  is  evil  than  what  is  good,  especially  when  the  former 
is  served  up  with  the  winning  graces  of  rhetoric,  and  sea- 
soned with  sarcasm,  ridicule,  and  denunciation.  Besides, 
the  press  sent  forth  the  works  of  the  reformers  neatly  and 
correctly  printed  ;  whereas  those  of  the  Catliolics  were 
often  so  clumsily  executed  as  to  excite  ridicule  and  dis- 


CAUSES    AND    MANNER    OF    THR    REFORMATION.  115 

gust.  The  principal  book  sellers  had  joined  the  reform 
party,  and  many  of  the  apostate  monks  had  exchanged 
their  former  occupation  of  transcribing  manuscripts  for 
that  of  type-compositors  and  proof-readers  in  the  princi- 
pal printing  establishments.  The  press  thus  became  al- 
most wholly  subservient  to  the  Protestant  party  ;  and  the 
recreant  monks  became  the  most  zealous  champions  of  the 
new  opinions. 

A  Catholic  book  which  passed  through  their  hands  was 
generally  mutilated,  or  at  least  printed  with  great  negli- 
gence. Cochlseus  and  others  complain  of  this  injustice. 
He  says  "  that  the  works  of  Catholics  were  often  so  badly 
printed  that  they  did  more  service  to  the  Lutheran  party 
than  to  their  own  cause ;  and  that  the  Frankfort  mer- 
chants openly  laughed  at  their  clumsy  execution."* 

Froben,  the  great  bookseller  of  Basle,  made  a  splendid 
fortune  by  selling  the  works  of  Luther,  which  he  repro- 
duced in  every  form,  and  published  at  the  cheapest  rates. 
In  a  letter  to  the  reformer,  he  chuckles  with  delight  over 
his  success  :  **  All  your  works  are  bought  up  ;  I  have  not 
ten  copies  on  hand :  never  did  books  sell  so  well."t 
Erasmus,  in  a  letter  to  Henry  VIII  of  England,  com- 
plains that  "  he  could  find  no  printer  who  would  dare 
publish  any  thing  against  Luther.  Were  it  against  the 
pope,"  he  adds,  "  there  would  be  no  difficulty.":}: 

The  great  Bellarmine,  who,  towards  the  close  of  the 
sixteenth  century,  undertook  the  herculean  task  of  refut- 
ing the  works  of  the  .reformers — a  task  which  he  executed 
in  a  most  masterly  and  triumphant  manner — assures  us 

*<'£atamen  neglectim,  ita  festinanter  et  vitiose  imprimebant,  ut 
majorem  giatiain  eo  obsequio  referrent  Lutheranis  quam  Catholicis. 
Si  quis  eorum  justiorem  Catholicis  operam  impenderent,  hi  a  caeteris  in 
publicis  mercatibus  Frankofordise  ac  alibi,  vexabantur  et  ridebantur, 
velut  papistse  et  saccrdotura  servi."     Cochl.  p.  58,  59. 

t  0pp.  Lutheri,  torn,  i,  p.  3SS,  389. 

+  Epist.  Erasmi,  p.  752.  For  further  particulars,  see  Audin,  p.  337, 
seqq. 


116  d'aubigxe's  history  reviewed. 

**  that  there  were  few  among  the  Protestant  party  who 
did  not  write  something,  and  that  iheir  books  not  only 
spread  like  a  cancer,  but  that  they  were  diffused  over  the 
land  like  swarms  of  locusts.*  Books  of  every  size,  from 
the  ponderous  folio  to  the  humble  pamphlet,  were  scat- 
tered through  Germany  on  the  wings  of  the  press.  And 
what  were  the  weapons  which  these  productions  wielded 
with  so  great  effect  ?  Were  they  those  of  truth  and  of 
sound  argument  ?  Or  were  they  those  of  low  abuse,  scur- 
rilous misrepresentation,  and  open  calumny  ?  If  there 
is  any  truth  in  history,  the  latter  were  put  in  requisition 
much  oftener  than  the  former.  Catholic  doctrines  traves- 
tied and  misrepresented — Catholic  practices  ridiculed — 
Catholic  bishops  and  priests  vilified  and  openly  calumni- 
ated— these  were  the  means  which  the  reformers  em- 
ployed with  so  murderous  an  effect.! 

And  though  all  sins  should  not  in  justice  be  visited  on 
their  children  in  the  faith,  yet  truth  compels  the  avowal 
that,  in  these  respects  at  least,  they  have  not  proved  rec- 
reant disciples.  This  is  still  the  panoply  of  Protestant 
warfare!  We  wish  from  our  hearts  it  were  otherwise  ! 
The  poet's  remark  is  true  both  of  the  first  reformers  and 

*  "  Rari  sunt  apud  adversaries  qui  non  aliquid  scribunt,  quorum  libri 
nori  jam  ut  cancer  serpent,  sed  velut  agmina  locustarum  volitant.** 
0pp.  torn,  i,  de  Controv.  in  Praefat. 

t  To  calumny  might  be  added  forgery,  which  was  not  uncommon 
in  the  palmy  days  of  the  reformation.  In  fact,  Whitaker,  a  Protestant 
parson,  says  that  it  was  peculiar  to  the  reformed  party.  We  will  allude 
to  one  notorious  instance  in  Germany.  Otho  Pack,  vice-chancellor  of 
Duke  George  of  Saxony,  forged  a  pretended  Catholic  plot,  which  he 
professed  to  have  learned  by  prying  into  the  secrets  of  the  duke.  His 
forgery  caused  the  elector  of  Saxony  and  the  landgrave  of  Hesse  to 
take  up  arms,  which  they  however  laid  down  when  the  falsehoods  of 
this  wretch  were  detected.  Yet  the  forgery,  though  thus  exposed,  was 
greedily  seized  up,  and  published  all  over  Germany  ;  and  there  are  yet 
several  writers  who  speak  of  the  conspiracy  it  had  fabricated  at  the 
league  of  Passau  !  Titus  Gates  had  a  predecessor,  it  seems,  in  Ger- 
many, though  he  far  surpassed  him  in  wickedness. 


CAUSES    AND    MANNER    OF    THE    REFORMATION.  117 

of  their  modern   disciples,  in  their  writings   against  the 
Catholic  church  : 

"  A  hideous  figure  of  their  face  they  drew, 

Nor  hues  nor  looks,  nor  colors  true  : 

And  this  grotesque  design  exposed  to  public  view."* 

We  shall  make  a  few  specifications,  to  prove  that  we 
have  not  done  injustice  to  the  character  of  the  writings 
published  by  the  early  reformers.  One  means  of  attack- 
ing the  character  of  the  Catholics,  was  that  of  the  Dia- 
logue, invented  by  Ulrich  von  Hutten,  one  of  the  most 
unscrupulous  writers  of  the  reform  party.  It  consisted 
in  introducing,  with  dramatic  effect,  the  various  distin- 
guished men  of  both  sides,  the  Catholic  and  the  Protest- 
ant— and  letting  them  speak  out  their  own  sentiments. 
These  dialogues  were  often  acted  on  the  stage,  with  great 
effect  among  the  populace.  The  Catholics  were  traves- 
tied, and  made  to  appear  in  the  most  ridiculous  light; 
while  their  adversaries  were  always  victorious.  Two  of 
these  principal  scenic  representations  were  designed  to 
ridicule  two  of  the  chief  champions  of  Catholicity  in  Ger- 
many— Doctors  Hochstraet  and  Eck.  The  lowest  humor 
— with  certain  specimens  of  which  we  will  not  dare  sullj 
our  pages — was  employed  against  these  distinguished 
divines.t  The  result  was,  that  they  became  objects  of 
contempt  throughout  Germany.  This  was  one  way  to 
answer  their  arguments  ! 

Every  one,  who  has  glanced  at  the  history  of  those 
turbulent  times,  is  familiar  with  the  vulgar  legends  of  the 
**  Pope-Ass  and  Monk  Calf,"  published  by  Melancthon 
and  Luther,  and  circulated  with  prodigious  effect.  The 
**  Pope-Ass"  was  extracted  from  the  bottom  of  the  Tiber 
in  1494;  and  the  "Monk-Calf,"  was  discovered  at  Fri- 

*  Dryden. 

t  The  curious  are  referred,  for  copious  extracts  from  these  "  dia- 
logues," to  Audin,p.  186,  seqq. 


118  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

burg,  in  Misnia,  in  1523.*  Lucas  Kranach,  a  painter  of 
the  time,  sculptured  this  vulgar  conceit  on  wood ;  and 
this  illustration  accompanied  the  description  of  the  two 
monsters.  What  surprises  us  most  is,  that  the  temperate 
Melancthon  should  have  lent  himself  to  this  low  ribaldry, 
which  was  then  current  for  wit ! 

Erasmus  and  other  cotemporary  writers,  openly  accused 
the  reformers  of  gross  calumny.  The  former  alleges 
many  facts  to  justify  his  charge.  *'  Those  people  are 
profuse  of  calumnies.  They  circulated  a  report  of  a 
canon,  who  complained  of  not  finding  Zurich  as  moral 
after  the  preaching  of  Zuinglius  as  before.  ...  In  the 
same  spirit  of  candor  they  have  accused  another  priest  of 
libertinism,  whom  I,  and  all  other  persons  acquainted 
with  him,  know  to  be  pure  in  word  and  action.  They 
have  calumniated  the  canon  because  he  hates  sectaries; 
and  the  priest,  because,  after  having  manifested  an  incli- 
nation to  their  doctrines,  he  suddenly  abandoned  them."t 

We  might  fill  a  volume  with  specimens  of  the  scurril- 
ous abuse  and  wicked  calumnies  of  Luther  against  the 
popes,  bishops,  monks,  and  Catholic  priesthood  !  We  con- 
sult brevity,  and  furnish  but  one  or  two  instances  from 
his  Table-Talk,  which  abounds  with  such  specimens  of 
decency.  **  The  monks  are  lineal  descendants  of  Satan. 
When  you  wish  to  paint  the  devil,  mufile  him  up  in  a 
monk's  habit."j:  Elsewhere  he  says,  **  that  the  devil 
strangled  Emser,"§  and  other  Catholic  clergymen. 

Luther's  marriage  was  not  only  a  sacrilegious  violation 
of  his  solemn  vows — it  was  also  a  master-stroke  of  policy. 
Through  its  influence,  he  secured  the  adherence  and  per- 

*  "  Interpretatio  duorum  horribilium  monstrorum,"  he,  per  Philip- 
pum  Meiancthonem  et  Martinum  Lutherum — inter  0pp.  Luth.  torn. 
ii,  p.  392. 

j  "  In  Pseudo-Evangelicos,"  Epist.  lib.  xxxi,  47.     London,  Flesher. 

X  "  Table  Talk,"  p.  109,  where  he  adds  :  "  What  a  roar  of  laughter 
there  must  be  in  hell  when  a  monk  goes  down  to  it  1"  Cf.  Audin,  p. 
395,  and  also  p.  393,  seqq.  §  Ibid. 


CAUSES  AND  MANNER  OF  THE  REFORMATION.    119 

severing  aid  of  a  whole  army  of  apostate  monks,  who 
eagerly  followed  his  example.  Until  he  took  this  decisive 
step,  marriage  among  the  clergy  and  monks  was  viewed 
with  ridicule,  if  not  with  abhorrence  by  the  people. 
After  his  marriage,  it  became  on  the  contrary  a  matter  of 
boast :  priests,  monks,  and  nuns  hastened  to  '*  the  ale-pope 
of  the  Black  Eagle,"  to  obtain  this  strange  absolution 
from  their  vows  plighted  to  heaven  :  and  he  received  them 
with  open  arms,  and  granted  them  an  *'  Indulgence," 
which  never  pope  had  granted  before !  Sacrilegious 
impurity  stalked  abroad  with  shameless  front  throughout 
Germany. 

The  married  priests  became  the  most  untiring  friends  of 
the  reform,  to  which  they  were  indebted  for  their  emanci- 
pation from  popery,  and  for  their  loives.  We  have  seen 
them  already  in  the  book  shops  and  the  printing  presses. 
Many  of  them  obtained  their  livelihood,  by  circulating 
Lutheran  pamphlets  through  the  country.*  Others  '*  took 
their  stand  near  the  church-gates,  and  often,  during  the 
divine  offices,  exhibited  caricatures  of  the  pope  and  the 
bishops."!  They  carried  on  a  relentless  war  against  the 
pope,  con  amore  ;  and  it  is  remarked,  that  few,  if  any  of 
these  married  priests  and  monks,  ever  repented,  or  relent- 
ed in  their  opposition  against  the  Catholic  church  !  Lu- 
ther thus,  by  his  marriage,  raised  up  a  whole  army  of  zea- 
lous and  efficient  partisans,  whose  co-operation  powerfully 
aided  the  progress  of  reform.^ 

Such  then  were  some  of  the  principal  means  adopted 
by  the  reformers  and  their  partisans,  for  carrying  out  the 
work  of  the  reformation.  Were  they  such  as  God  could 
have  sanctioned  ?  Could  a  cause  indebted  to  such  means 
for  its  success  be  from  heaven  ?  On  the  other  hand,  con- 
sidering the  corrupt  state  of  society  in  Germany,  at  the 

*  "  Infiriitus  jam  erat  numerus  qui  victura  ex  Lutheranis  libris  quae- 
ritantes,  in  speciem  bibliopolarum  longe  lateque  per  Germaniae  provin- 
cias  vagabar.tur."     Cochlaeus,  p.  58. 

t  Ibid.  X  Cf.  Audin,  p.  3.37,  seq. 


130  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century,  can  we  wonder  at  the 
great  success  which  attended  a  movement  promoted  by 
such  means  ?  We  would  be  suprised,  indeed,  on  the  con- 
trary, if  similar  success  had  not  attended  it,  under  all  the 
circumstances  of  the  case. 

The  distinctive  doctrines  of  the  reformation,  throwing 
off  the  wholesome  restraints  of  the  old  religion,  flattering 
pride  and  pandering  to  passion — the  protection  of  power- 
ful princes,  secured  by  feeding  their  cupidity  and  cater- 
ing to  their  basest  passions — the  furious  excitement  of  the 
people,  fed  by  maddening  appeals  from  the  pulpit  and  the 
press,  made  to  revel  in  works  of  spoliation  and  violence— 
this  excitement,  lashed  into  still  greater  fury  by  the  con- 
stant employment  of  ridicule,  low  raillery,  misrepresenta- 
tion and  calumny  of  every  person  and  of  every  thing 
Catholic — and  the  marriage  of  many  apostate  priests  and 
monks,  bindi,ng  them  irrevocably  to  the  new  doctrines — 
can  we  wonder  that  all  these  causes  combined — and  acting 
too  upon  an  age  and  country  avowedly  depraved — should 
have  produced  the  effect  of  rapidly  diffusing  the  soi  disant 
reformation  ? 

AVe  do  not  of  course  mean  to  imply,  that  all  who  em- 
braced the  reformation  were  corrupt,  or  led  by  evil  mo- 
tives :  we  have  no  doubt  that  many  were  deceived  by  the 
specious  appearance  of  piety.  This  was  especially  the 
case  with  the  common  people,  who  often  followed  the  ex- 
ample and  obeyed  the  teaching  of  their  princes  and  pas- 
tors, without  taking  much  trouble  to  ascertain  the  right. 
But  we  have  intended  to  speak  more  particularly  of  the 
leading  actors  in  the  great  drama;  and  to  paint  the  chief 
parts  they  played  on  the  stage. 

Much  less  would  we  be  understood,  as  indiscriminately 
and  wantonly  censuring  Protestants  of  the  present  day. 
A  broad  line  of  distinction  should  be  drawn  between  the 
first  teachers  and  the  first  disciples  of  error,  and  those 
who  have  inherited  it  through  a  long  line  of  ancestry.  The 
latter  might  be  often  Nvithout  ;^reat  censure,  where  the  for- 


CAUSES  AND  MANNER   OF  THE    REFORMATION.  121 

mer  would  be  wholly  Inexcusable.  The  strong  and  close 
meshes  which  the  prejudices  of  early  education  have  wo- 
ven around  them — the  dense  and  clouded  medium,  through 
which  they  have  been  accustomed  to  view  the  sun  of  Ca- 
tholic truth — the  strong  influence  of  parental  authority 
and  of  family  ties — and  many  such  causes,  combine  to 
keep  them  in  error.  Besides,  history,  which  should  be  a 
witness  of  truth,  has  been  polluted  in  its  very  sources : 
and  the  injustice  which  its  voice  has  done  to  the  truth, 
has  been  accumulating  for  centuries.  But  can  Protestants 
of  the  present  day,  notwithstanding  all  these  disadvan- 
tages, hold  themselves  inexcusable,  if  they  neglect  to  ex- 
amine both  sides  of  the  question,  with  all  the  diligence 
and  attention  that  so  grave  a  subject  demands  ? 

To  enable  them  to  do  this  the  more  easily,  was  one 
principal  motive  that  induced  us  to  review  the  partial  and 
unfounded  statements  of  M.  D'Aubigne.  If  it  be  thought, 
that  our  picture  of  the  causes  and  manner  of  the  reforma- 
tion and  of  the  means  to  which  it  owed  its  success,  is  too 
dark,  we  beg  leave  to  refer  to  the  facts  and  authorities  we 
have  alleged.  If  there  be  any  truth  in  history,  our  paint- 
ing has  not  been  too  highly  colored.  Had  we  adduced  all 
the  evidence  bearing  on  the  subject,  the  coloring  might 
have  been  still  deeper!  We  had  to  examine  and  refute 
M.  D'Aubigne's  flippant  assertions :  that  the  reformers 
were  chosen  instruments  of  heaven  for  a  divine  work ;  and 
that  the  *'  reformation  was  but  the  reappearance  of  Chris- 
tianity." 

A  *' reappearance  of  Christianity,"  forsooth!  It  is  from 
the  facts  accumulated  above,  such  a  **  reappearance,"  as 
darkness  is  of  light!  Strip  the  reformation  of  all  that  it 
borrowed  from  Catholicism — let  it  appear  in  its  own  dis- 
tinctive character,  in  all  its  naked  deformity;  and  it  has 
scarcely  one  feature  in  common  with  early  Christianity. 
Did  the  apostles  preach  doctrines  which  pandered  to  the 
passions  of  mankind  ?  Did  they  flatter  princes,  by  oft'ering 
to  them  the  plunder  of  their  neighbors,  and  by  allowing 
11 


122  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

tliem  to  have  two  wives  at  once,  to  quiet  their  troubled 
conscience  ?  Did  thej  employ  the  weapons  of  ridicule,  sar- 
casm, and  calumny  against  their  adversaries?  Did  they 
excite  their  followers  to  deeds  of  lawless  violence  against 
the  established  order  of  things  ?  Did  they  break  their  so- 
lemn engagements  to  heaven  ?  The  reformers  did  all  this 
and  more,  as  we  have  shown. 


CHAPTER    V. 


THE    REFORMATION   IN   SWITZERLAND. 

'« The  spirit  that  I  have  seen 

May  be  a  devil ;  and  the  devil  hath  pow^er 

To  assume  a  pleasing  shape."— SAa/ispeare. 

The  reformation  in  Switzerland  more  radical  than  that  in  Germany — 
Yet  like  it— Sows  dissensions— Zuingle  warlike  and  superstitious — 
Claims  precedency  over  Luther — Black  or  white — Precursory  distur- 
bances— Aldermen  deciding  on  faith — How  the  fortress  was  en- 
trenched— Riot  and  conflagration — Enlightenment — Protestant  mar- 
tyrs— Suppression  of  the  mass — Solemniiy  of  the  reformed  worship — 
Downright  paganism — The  reformation  and  matrimony — Zuingle 's 
marriage  and  misgivings — Romance  among  nuns — How  to  get  a  hus- 
band— Perversion  of  Scripture— St.  Paul  on  celibacy — Recapitulation. 

Before  we  proceed  to  examine  the  manifold  influences 
of  the  reformation,  it  may  be  well  briefly  to  glance  at  the 
history  of  its  establishment  in  Switzerland.  M.  D'Au- 
bigne  devotes  two  whole  books*  to  this  portion  of  his  his- 
tory, which,  as  it  concerns  his  own  fatherland,  is  evidently 
a  favorite  topic  with  him.  Our  limits  will  not  permit  us 
to  follow  him  through  all  his  tedious  and  romantic  details  : 
we  will  content  ourselves  with  reviewing  some  of  his  lead- 
ing statements. 

After  what  we  have  already  said  concerning  the  causes 
and  manner  of  the  reformation  in  Germany,  it  will  scarcely 
be  necessary  to  dwell  at  great  length  on  that  of  Switzer- 
land. The  one  was  but  a  **  reappearance"  of  the  other — 
to  use  one  of  our  author's  favorite  words.  The  same  great 
features  marked  both  revolutions,  with  this  only  difter- 
ence  :  that  the  Swiss  was  more  radical  and  more  thorough, 
and  therefore  more  to  M.  D'Aubigne's  taste.     Like  the 

*  Book  viii,  vol.  ii,  p.  267  to  400 :  and  book  xi,  vol.  iii,  p.  255  to  341. 


124  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

German,  however,  its  progress  was  everywhere  signalized 
by  dissensions,  civil  commotions,  rapine,  violence  and 
bloodshed.  And  like  the  German,  it  was  also  indebted 
for  its  permanent  establishment  to  the  interposition  of  the 
civil  authorities.  Without  this,  neither  revolution  would 
have  had  either  consistency  or  permanency.  M.  D'Au- 
bigne  himself  bears  unwilling  testimony  to  all  these  facts, 
though,  as  usual,  he  suppresses  many  things  of  vital  im- 
portance. We  will  supply  some  of  his  omissions,  and 
avail  ourselves  of  his  concessions,  as  we  proceed. 

The  reformation  found  the  thirteen  Swiss  cantons 
united,  and  in  peace  among  themselves  and  with  all  the 
world.  It  sowed  disunion  among  them,  and  plunged 
them  into  a  civil  war,  that  threatened  rudely  to  pluck  up 
by  the  roots  the  venerable  old  tree  of  liberty  which,  centu- 
ries before,  their  Catholic  forefathers  had  planted  and 
watered  with  their  blood  !  The  shrines  sacred  to  the  me- 
mory of  William  Tell,  Melchtal,  and  Fiirst,  the  fathers 
of  Swiss  independence,  were  attempted  to  be  rudely  dese- 
crated :  and  the  altars  at  which  their  forefathers  had  wor- 
shipped in  quietness  for  ages  were  recklessly  overturned. 
The  consequences  of  this  attempt  to  subvert  the  national 
faith  by  violence,  were  most  disastrous.  The  harmony  of 
the  old  Swiss  republic  was  destroyed,  and  the  angel  of 
peace  departed  forever  from  the  hills  and  the  valleys  of 
Switzerland  !  That  this  picture  is  not  too  highly  colored, 
the  following  brief  summary  of  facts  will  prove. 

The  four  cantons  of  Zurich,  Berne,  Schaifhausen,  and 
Basle,  which  first  embraced  the  reformation,  began  very 
soon  thereafter  to  give  evidence  of  their  turbulent  spirit. 
They  formed  a  league  against  the  cantons  which  still  re- 
solved to  adhere  to  the  Catholic  faith.  One  article  of  their 
alliance  forbade  any  of  the  confederates  to  transport  pro- 
visions to  the  Catholic  cantons.  Arms  were  in  conse- 
quence taken  up  on  both  sides,  and  a  bloody  contest  en- 
sued. Ulrich  Zuingle,  the  father  of  the  reformation  in 
Switzerland,  marched  with  the  troops  of  the  Protestant  par- 


THE    REFORMATION    IN    SWITZERLAND.  125 

tj,  and  fell,  bravely  fighting  with  them  "  the  battles  of  the 
Lord,"  on  the  11th  of  Oct.  1531 !  Did  he  in  this  give  any 
evidence  of  the  apostolic  spirit,  which  M.  D'Aubigne  as- 
cribes to  him  ?  Did  ever  an  apostle  die  on  the  field  of 
battle,  while  seeking  the  lives  of  his  fellow  mortals  ?  He 
was  as  superstitious,  as  he  was  fierce.  The  historians  of 
his  life  tell  us,  that  a  little  before  the  battle  he  was 
stricken  with  sad  forebodings  by  the  appearance  of  a 
comet,  which  he  viewed  as  portending  direful  disasters  to 
Zurich,  and  as  announcing  his  own  death ! 

Our  author  says  nothing  of  all  this,  which  the  historians 
of  Switzerland  all  agree  in  relating :  but  in  justice  to  him 
we  must  say,  that  his  history  does  not  come  down  to  this 
period.  Perhaps  in  one  of  his  forthcoming  volumes,  he 
may  undertake  to  enlighten  us  on  this  subject,  and  to  di- 
late on  his  favorite  apostle's  skill  in  augury,  as  well  as  on 
his  apostolic  spirit  on  the  battle  field.  He,  however,  fur- 
nishes us  with  a  little  incident  which  marks  the  warlike 
spirit  of  the  Swiss  reformer.  *'  In  Zurich  itself,"  he  says, 
"  a  few  worthless  persons,  instigated  to  mischief  by  foreign 
agency,  made  an  attack  on  Zuingle  in  the  middle  of  the 
night,  throwing  stones  at  his  house,  breaking  the  windows, 
and  calling  aloud  for  the  *  red-haired  Uli,  the  vulture  of 
Glavis' — so  that  Zuingle  started  from  his  sleep,  and  caught 
up  his  sword.     The  action  is  characteristic  of  the  man."* 

Zuingle  was  at  Zurich  what  Luther  was  at  Wittem- 
berg.  Each  claimed  the  precedency  in  the  career  of  the 
reformation.  Mr.  Hallam  thus  notices  their  respective 
claims :  **  it  has  been  disputed  between  the  advocates  of 
these  leaders  to  which  the  priority  in  the  race  of  reform 
belongs.  Zuingle  himself  declares  that  in  1516,  before  he 
had  heard  of  Luther,  he  began  to  preach  the  Gospel  at 
Zurich,  and  to  warn  the  people  against  relying  upon  hu- 
man authority,  l^ut  that  is  rather  ambiguous,  and  hardly 
enough  to  substantiate  his  claim Like  Luther,  he 

*  Vol.  iii,  p.  275. 
11* 


126  d'aitbigne's  history  reviewed. 

had  the  support  of  the  temporal  magistrates,  the  council 
of  Zurich.  Upon  the  whole,  thej  proceeded  so  nearly 
with  equal  steps,  and  were  so  connected  with  each  other, 
that  it  seems  difficult  to  award  either  any  honor  of  prece- 
dence."* 

We  shall  have  occasion  hereafter  to  refer  at  some  length 
to  the  bitter  controversy,  which  raged  between  these  two 
boasted  apostles.  They  taught  contradictory  doctrines  : 
one  warmly  defended,  the  other  as  warmly  denied  the 
real  presence.  Were  they  both  guided  by  the  spirit  of 
God  ?  Can  the  Holy  Spirit  inspire  contradictory  systems 
of  belief  ?  If  God' was  with  Luther,  he  certainly  was  not 
with  Zuingle;  and  vice  versa. 

By  the  way,  what  a  pity  it  is  that  M.  D'Aubigne,  while 
lauding  the  Swiss  reformer  to  the  skies,  could  not  settle 
the  importdint  previous  question  which  had  so  sadly  puz- 
zled Zuingle — whether  the  spirit  which  appeared  to  him 
in  his  sleep,  and  suggested  the  text  of  Scripture  by  which 
he  might  disprove  the  real  presence,  was  black  or  white? 
How  gently  he  touches  on  this  passage  in  the  history  of 
Zuingle  !  He  merely  gives  vent  to  his  surprise  by  a  note 
of  admiration,  that  this  circumstance  should  have  "given 
rise  to  the  assertion  that  the  doctrine  promulgated  by  the 
reformer  was  delivered  to  him  by  the  devil  !"t  Did  not 
the  reformer's  own  account  of  the  vision^ — of  which  he 
was  certainly  the  most  competent  witness — "give  rise  to 
the  assertion  ?"  And  did  not  his  brother  reformers  openly 
make  the  charge  ? 

Zurich  was  the  first  city  of  Switzerland,  which  was 
favored  with  the  new  Gospel.  Our  author  treats  in  great 
detail§  of  all  the  circumstances  which  attended  its  intro- 
duction; and  of  the  preliminary  discussions,  commotions 


*  "  History  of  Literature,"  si/p.  cit.  vol.  i,p.  163,  4.  He  cites  Gerdes 
Histor.  Evang.  Reform.  1,  103.  f  HI,  272,  3. 

X  "  Jltcr/uerit  an  albus  nihil  memini,  somniiim  enim  nnrro.^' — Ibid. 
§  Vol.  iii,  p.  238,  segq. 


THE    REFORMATION    IN    SWITZERLAND.  127 

and  riots,  which  were  its  harbingers.  We  will  present  a 
few  specimens.  Leo  Juda,  one  of  the  precursors  of  the 
"Gospel"  arrived  in  Zurich  "about  the  end  of  1522,  to 
take  the  duty  of  pastor  of  St.  Peter's  church."  Soon 
after  his  arrival,  being  at  church,  he  rudely  interrupted 
an  Augustinian  monk  while  he  was  preaching.  "  Rever- 
end father  Prior,"  exclaimed  Leo,  *'  listen  to  me  for  an 
instant;  and  you,  my  dear  fellow  citizens,  keep  your 
seats — I  will  speak  as  becomes  a  Christian" — and  he 
proceeded  to  show  the  unscriptural  character  of  the  teach- 
ing he  had  just  been  listening  to.  A  great  disturbance 
ensued  in  the  church.  Instantly  several  persons  angrily 
attacked  "  the  little  priest"  from  Einsidlen  (Zuingle). 
Zuingle,  repairing  to  the  council,  presented  himself  before 
them,  and  requested  permission  to  give  an  account  of  his 
doctrine,  in  presence  of  the  bishop's  deputies  ; — and  the 
council,  desiring  to  terminate  the  dissensions,  convoked  a 
conference  for  the  29th  of  January.  The  news  spread 
rapidly  throughout  Switzerland."* 

After  having  given  a  very  lengthy  account  of  the  con- 
ference, which,  as  might  have  been  anticipated,  terminated 
in  nothing,  our  author  thus  manifests  his  joy  at  the  bright- 
ening prospects  of  the  **  Gospel."  *' Every  thing  was 
moving  forward  at  Zurich  ;  men's  minds  were  becoming 
more  enlightened — their  hearts  more  steadfast.  The 
reformation  was  gaining  strength.  Zurich  was  a  fortress, 
in  which  the  new  doctrine  had  entrenched  itself,  and  from 
within  whose  enclosure  it  was  ready  to  pour  itself  abroad 
over  the  whole  confederation. "t 

Our  historian  tells  us  how  the  "  reformation  gained 
strength,"  and  how  "  the  new  doctrine  entrenched  itself 
in  the  fortress" — to  say  nothing  of  the  "enlightenment," 
of  which  we  will  treat  hereafter.  The  "  enlightened" 
council  of  Zurich  decided  in  favor  of  the  reformed  doc- 
trines ;  and  resorted  to  force  in  order  to  suppress  the  an- 

*  Ibid.  p.  239.  t  Ibid.  p.  2.51. 


128 

cient  worship.  Only  think  of  a  town  council,  composed  of 
fat  aldermen  and  stupid  burgomasters, pronouncing  defini- 
tively on  articles  of  faith  !  In  reading  of  their  high-handed 
proceedings,  we  are  forcibly  reminded  of  the  wonderful 
achievements,  in  a  somewhat  different  genre,  of  the  far- 
famed  governors  and  burgomasters  of  New-Amsterdam, 
as  fully  set  forth  by  the  inimitable  Knickerbocker ! 
The  one  is  about  as  grotesque  as  the  other.  They  of 
Zurich  did  not,  however,  belong  to  the  class  of  Walter, 
the  Doubter  :  they  were  perhaps  too  fat  and  stupid  to 
doubt. 

Let  us  see  some  of  the  proceedings  of  this  famous  board 
of  councilmen  at  Zurich.  "Nor  did  the  council  stop  here. 
The  relics,  which  had  given  occasion  to  so  many  super- 
stitions, were  honorably  interred.  And  then,  on  the  fur- 
ther requisition  of  the  three  (reformed)  pastors,  an  edict 
was  issued,  decreeing  that,  inasmuch  as  God  alone  ought 
to  be  honored,  the  images  should  be  removed  from  all  the 
churches  of  the  Canton,  and  their  ornaments  applied  to 
the  relief  of  the  poor.  Accordingly  twelve  counsellors — 
one  for  each  tribe — the  three  pastors,  and  the  city  archi- 
tect, with  some  smiths,  carpenters  and  masons,  visited 
the  several  churches;  and,  having  first  closed  the  doors, 
took  down  the  crosses,  obliterated  the  paintings  {the  Van- 
dals!), whitewashed  the  walls,  and  carried  away  the  images, 
to  the  great  joy  of  the  faithful  (!)  who  regarded  this  pro- 
ceeding," Bullinger  tells  us,  *'  as  a  glorious  act  of  homage 
to  the  true  God."  In  some  of  the  country  parishes,  the 
ornaments  of  the  churches  were  committed  to  the  flames, 
"to  the  greater  honor  and  glory  of  God."  Soon  after  this 
the  organs  were  suppressed,  on  account  of  their  connec- 
tion with  many  "superstitious  observances,  and  a  new 
form  of  baptism  was  established  from  which  every  thing 
unscriptural  was  carefully  excluded."*  What  enlighten- 
ment, and  taste  for  music  ! 

*  Ibid.  p.  257.8- 


THE    REFORMATION    IN    SWITZERLAND.  129 

"  The  triumph  of  the  reformation,"  our  author  con- 
tinues, '-'threw  a  joyful  radiance  over  the  last  hours  of 
the  burgomaster  Roush  and  his  colleague.  They  had  lived 
long  enough  ;  and  they  both  died  within  a  few  days  after 
the  restoration  of  a  purer  (!)  mode  of  worship."*  And 
such  a  triumph  !  !  Before  we  proceed  to  show  by  what 
means  this  "  purer  mode  of  worship"  was  established  at 
Zurich,  we  will  give,  from  our  historian,  an  instance  of  a 
scene  of  riot  and  conflagration  enacted  by  the  '*  faithful" 
children  of  the  reformation.  It  details  the  proceedings 
of  a  party,  which  went  out  foraging  with  the  bailiff  Wirth. 

"  The  rabble,  meanwhile,  finding  themselves  in  the 
neighborhood  of  the  convent  of  Ittingen,  occupied  by  a 
community  of  Carthusians,  who  were  generally  believed 
{by  the  *faithfuV)  to  have  encouraged  the  bailiff  Am- 
Berg  in  his  tyranny,  entered  the  building  and  took  pos- 
session of  the  refectory.  They  immediately  gave  them- 
selves up  to  excess,  and  a  scene  of  riot  ensued.  In  vain 
did  Wirth  entreat  them  to  quit  the  place ;  he  was  in  dan- 
ger of  personal  ill-treatment  among  them.  His  son 
Adrian  had  remained  outside  of  the  monastery:  John 
entered  it,  but  shocked  by  what  he  beheld  within,  came 
out  immediately.  The  inebriated  peasants  proceeded  to 
pillage  the  cellars  and  granaries,  to  break  the  furniture  to 
pieces  and  to  hum  the  hooksy\  Again,  what  enlighten- 
ment ! 

This  is  M.  D'Aubigne's  statement  of  the  affair  :  but  the 
deputies  of  the  Cantons,  found  the  Wirths  guilty,  and 
pronounced  sentence  of  death  on  them.  Our  author 
views  them  as  martyrs,  and  tells  us,:j:  in  great  detail,  how 
cruelly  they  were  **  mocked,"  how  they  were  '*  faithful 
unto  death,"  and  how  intrepidly  the  "father  and  son" 
ascended  the  scaffold  !  His  whole  account  is  truly  affect- 
ing !  The  reformation  is  welcome  to  such  martyrs. 

He  exclaims  :  "now  at  length  blood  had  been  spilt — 

*  Ibid.  t  Ibid.  p.  264-5.  %  Ibid.  p.  266,  seqq. 


ISO 

innocent  blood.  Switzerland  and  the  reformation  were 
baptized  with  the  blood  of  the  martyrs.  The  great  enemy 
of  the  Gospel  had  effected  his  purpose  ;  but  in  effecting 
it,  he  had  struck  a  mortal  blow  at  his  own  power.  The 
death  of  the  Wirths  was  an  appointed  means  of  hastening 
the  triumph  of  the  reformation."*  **  The  reformers  of 
Zurich,"  he  adds,  •'  had  abstained  from  abolishing  the 
Mass  when  they  suppressed  the  use  of  images ;  but  the 
moment  for  doing  so  seems  now  to  have  arrived. "t 

He  thus  relates  the  manner  in  which  the  Mass  w^as 
suppressed,  and  the  **  purer  worship"  introduced  in  its 
place.  *'  On  the  11th  of  August,  1525,  the  three  pastors 
of  Zurich,  accompanied  by  Megander,  and  Oswald  and 
Myconius,  presented  themselves  before  the  great  council, 
and  demanded  the  re-establishmentof  the  Lord's  Supper. 
Their  discourse  was  a  vv^eighty  one,  and  was  listened  to 
with  the  deepest  attention — every  one  felt  how  important 
was  the  decision  which  the  council  \vas  called  upon  to 
pronounce.  The  JNIass — that  mysterious  rite  which  for 
three  [fifteen)  successive  centuries  had  constituted  the 
animating  principle  in  the  worship  of  the  Latin  Church 
[and  in  all  churches) — was  now  to  be  abrogated — the  cor- 
poreal presence  of  Christ  was  to  be  declared  an  illusion, 
and  of  that  illusion  the  minds  of  the  people  were  to  be 
dispossessed  ;  some  courage  was  needed  for  such  a  reso- 
lution as  this,  and  there  were  individuals  in  the  council 
who  shuddered  at  so  audacious  a  design."^ 

The  grave  board  of  councilmen  did  not  how^ever  hesitate 
long:  they  made  quick  work  in  this  most  important  mat- 
ter. "  The  great  council  w^as  convinced  by  his  (Zuingle's) 
reasoning,  and  hesitated  no  longer."  (How  could  they 
resist  his  reasonino;,  based  as  it  was,  on  the  teachino-  of 

ft'  '  o 

the  spirit,  ^/acA;  ov  white?)  "The  evangelical  doctrine 
had  sunk  deep  into  every  heart,  and  moreover,  since  the 
separation  from  Rome  hud  taken  place,  there  was  a  kind 

*  Ibid.  p.  270.  t  Ibid.  p.  271.  %  Ibid. 


THE    REFORMATION    IN    SWITZERLAND,  151 

of  satisfaction  felt  in  making  that  separation  as  complete 
as  possible,  and  digging  a  gulph,  (the  reformation  was  a 
gulph)  as  it  were,  between  the  reformation  and  her.  The 
council  decreed  that  the  Mass  should  be  abolished,  and  it 
was  determined  that  on  the  following  day,  which  was 
Maunday  Thursday,  the  Lord's  Supper  should  be  cele- 
brated in  conformity  with  the  apostolic  model."*  This 
was  indeed  quick  and  sweeping  work ! 

*'  The  altars  disappeared,"  he  continues  ;  "  some  plain 
tables,  covered  with  the  sacramental  bread  and  wine, 
occupied  their  places,  and  a  crowd  of  eager  communicants 
was  gathered  around  them.  There  was  something  exceed- 
ingly solemn  in  that  assemblage."!  No  doubt  it  was 
much  more  solemn  than  had  been  the  Catholic  worship ! 
Our  author  thus  describes  the  **  solemnity."  *•  The  peo- 
ple then  fell  on  their  knees :  the  bread  was  carried  round 
on  large  wooden  dishes  or  platters,  and  every  one  broke 
off  a  morsel  for  himself;  the  wine  was  distributed  in 
wooden  drinking  cups;  the  resemblance  to  the  primitive 
supper  was  thought  to  be  the  closer.  (!)  The  hearts  of 
those  who  celebrated  this  ordinance  were  affected  with 
alternate  emotions  of  wonder  and  joy."|  Truly  there 
was  much  to  excite  both  wonder  and  joy  !  This  whole 
description  seems  to  be  in  the  mock  heroic  style  of  writing. 

In  the  same  strain  is  the  following  passage :  **  Such 
was  the  progress  of  the  reformation  at  Zurich.  The  sim- 
ple commemoration  of  our  Lord's  death  caused  a  fresh 
overflow  "  in  the  church  of  love  to  God,  and  love  to  the 
brethren.  .  .  .  Zuingle  rejoiced  at  these  affecting  mani- 
festations of  grace,  and  returned  thanks  to  God  that  the 
Lord's  Supper  was  again  working  those  miracles  of  cha- 
rity, which  had  long  since  ceased  to  be  displayed  in  con- 
nexion with  the  Sacrifice  of  the  Mass  (!)  *  Our  city,'  said 
he,  *  continues  at  peace.  There  is  no  fraud,  no  dissen- 
sion, no  envy,  no  wrangling  among  us.     Where  shall  we 

*  Ibid.  p.  272.  t  Ibid.  p.  273.  |  Ibid. 


132  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

discover  the  cause  of  this  agreement  except  in  the  Lord's 
good  pleasure,  and  the  harmlessness  and  meekness  of  tiie 
doctrine  we  profess  ?'  "  M.  D'Aubigne  however  spoils 
this  beautiful  picture,  bj  the  following  cruel  sentence, 
which  immediately  follows:  **  charity  and  unity  were 
there — but  not  uniformity."* 

To  establish  this,  he  refers  to  certain  strange  doctrines 
broached  by  Zuingle,  this  same  year,  1525,  in  his  famous 
*•  Commentary  on  true  and  false  religions,"  addressed  to 
Francis  I,  king  of  France.  He  labors  hard  to  defend  the 
reformer  from  the  charge  of  Pelagianism,  which  his  asso- 
ciates in  the  reformation  did  not  fail  to  make.  But  was 
it  honest  in  him  to  conceal  the  notorious  fact,  that,  in  this 
same  *'  Commentary,"  Zuingle  had  placed  Theseus,  Her- 
cules, Numa,  Scipio,  Cato,  and  other  heathen  worthies, 
in  heaven  among  the  elect  ?  This  was  something  worse 
than  Pelagianism — it  was  downright  paganism.  Could 
•*  charity  and  unity"  reign  in  the  midst  of  the  fiercest 
wranglings,  of  the  most  bitter  civil  feuds  and  dissensions, 
and  amidst  the  bloodshed  of  a  protracted  civil  war  ?  Yet 
these  were  the  scenes  amid  which  the  Swiss  reformation 
revelled  ! 

**  Such,"  then,  "  was  the  progress  of  the  reformation  at 
Zurich  !"  In  other  places — at  Berne  and  at  Basle — its 
proceedings  were  marked  by  similar  demonstrations.  It 
was  every  where  the  same.  Every  where,  it  invoked  the 
civil  power,  and  was  established,  as  at  Zurich,  by  the 
decisions  of  boards  of  councilmen,  and  was  enforced  by 
violence.  M.  D'Aubigne  alleges  facts  which  prove  all 
this;  and  we  deem  it  unnecessary  to  repeat  them.  It 
would  be  but  telling  over  the  same  story. 

CEcolampadius  was  the  chief  actor  on  the  reformation 
stage  at  Basle.  He  was  a  learned  and  moderate  man,  the 
early  friend  of  Erasmus,  and,  in  some  respects,  the  coun- 
terpart of  Mclancthon.     The  Gospel-light  seems  to  have 

*  Ibid.  p.  274. 


THE    REFORMATION    IN    SWITZERLAND.  133 

first  beamed  upon  him  from  the  eye  of  a  beautiful  young 
lady,  whom,  in  violation  of  his  solemn  vows  plighted  to 
heaven,  he  espoused;  "probably,"  as  Erasmus  wittily 
remarked,  "  to  mortify  himself!"  In  the  race  of  matri- 
mony, at  least,  he  could  claim  the  precedency  over  his 
brother  reformers.  Yet  they  did  not  long  remain  behind. 
Matrimony  was,  in  all  cases,  the  denouement  of  the  drama 
which  signalized  the  zeal  for  reformation.  Zuingle  him- 
self, "the  priest  of  Einsidlin,"  espoused  a  rich  widow. 
A  widow  also  caught  Calvin,  a  little  later.  Martin  Bucer, 
another  reformer,  who  figured  chiefly  in  Switzerland,  far 
outstripped  any  of  his  fellows  in  the  hymeneal  career.  lie 
became  the  husband  of  no  less  than  three  ladies  in  succes- 
sion :  and  one  of  them  had  been  already  married  three 
times — all  too,  by  a  singular  run  of  good  luck,  in  the 
reformation  line!  !* 

It  is  really  curiou?  to  observe,  how  M.  D'Aubigne  treats 
this  subject.  Speaking  of  the  Swiss  reformers,  he  says: 
"  Several  among  ihem  at  this  period  (1522)  returned  to 
the  "apostolic  usaget  (!!!).  Xyloclect  was  already  a 
husband.  Zuingle  also  married  about  this  time.  Among 
the  women  of  Zurich,  none  was  more  respected  than  Anna 
Reinhardt,  widow  of  Meyer  von  Knonau,  mother  of  Cer- 
oid. From  Zuingle's  coming  among  them,  she  had  been 
constant  in  her  attendance  on  his  ministry  |  she  lived  near 
him,  and  he  had  remarked  her  piety,  modesty,  and  mater- 
nal tenderness.  Young  Gerold,  who  had  become  almost 
like  a  son  to  him,  contributed  farther  to  bring  about  an 
intimacy  with  his  mother.  The  trials  that  had  already 
befallen  this  Christian  woman — whose  fate  it  was  to   be 


*  For  a  full  account  of  this  matter,  see  "  Travels  of  an  Irish  gentle- 
man," ch.  xlvi,  where  the  great  Irish  poet  enters  into  the  subject  at 
length ;  giving  his  authorities  as  he  proceeds,  and  playing  off  his 
caustic  wit  on  the  hymeneal  propensities  of  the  reformers, 

t  How  very  absurd  !  Was  St.  Paul  married  ?  Were  any  of  the  apos- 
tles ever  married,  except  St.  Peter,  of  whose  wife  the  Scripture  says 
nothing  after  he  became  an  apostle  ?  She  was  probably  dead. 
12 


134  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

one  day  more  severely  tried  than  any  woman  whose 
history  is  on  record — had  formed  her  to  a  seriousness 
which  gave  prominency  to  her  Christian  virtues.  She  was 
then  about  thirty-five,  and  her  whole  fortune  consisted  of 
four  hundred  florins.*  It  was  on  her  that  Zuingle  (ki?id, 
sympathetic  soul)  fixed  his  eyes  for  a  companion  for  life."t 

Still  he  had  his  misgivings  at  breaking  his  solemn  vows : 
he  **  did  not  make  his  marriage  public.  This  was  beyond 
doubt  a  blameable  weakness  in  one  who  was  in  other 
respects  so  resolute  [reckless?) .  The  light  he  and  his 
friends  possessed  on  the  subject  of  celibacy  was  by  no 
means  general.  The  weak  might  have  been  stumbled. "J 
This  last  is  a  new  phrase,  introduced,  we  suppose,  to 
unfold  a  new  idea — that  the  people  retained  conscience 
longer  than  the  boasted  reformers,  who  misled  them  from 
»•  the  old  paths." 

On  this  same  subject,  M.  D'Aubigne  treats  us  to  some 
fine  touches  of  romance — \\\?,  forte — about  nuns  who  em- 
braced the  reformation,  and  then  immediately,  as  a  neces- 
sary sequel,  got   married.     We  will  give  a  few  instances  : 

*'  At  Koningsfeld  upon  the  river  Aar,  near  the  castle 
of  Hapsburg,  stood  a  monastery  adorned  with  all  the 
magnificence  of  the  middle  ages,  and  in  which  reposed  the 
ashes  of  many  of  that  illustrious  house  which  had  so  often 
given  an  emperor  to  Germany.  To  this  place  the  noble 
families  of  Switzerland  and  of  Suabia  used  to  send  their 

daughters  to  take  the  veil The  liberty  enjoyed  in 

this   convent had  favored  the   introduction   not 

only  of  the  Bible  (they  had  it  already,  and  were  obliged 
to  read  portions  of  it  daily  hy  their  rule),  but  the  writings 
of  Luther  and  Zuingle;  and  soon  a  new  spring  of  life  and 
joy  changed  the  aspect  of  its  interior  !"§ 

A  **new  spring  of  life  and  of  joy"  was  certainly  thus 
opened  to  the  nuns.     They  soon  became   tired  of  retire- 

*  A  very  large  sum  at  that  lime,     f    Vol.  ii,  p.  383.      I  Ibid.  p.  384, 
§  Vul.  iii,  p.  2S0,  2S1. 


THE    REFORMATION    IN    SWITZERLAND.  135 

ment  and  of  prayer :  they  sighed  for  the  flesh-pots  of  Egypt 
to  which  they  had  bidden  adieu — for  the  *'  life  and  joy"  of 
the  world.  Margaret  Watteville,  one  of  them,  wrote  a 
letter*  to  Zuingle,  full  of  piety  and  of  affection;  and  de* 
clared  that  she  expressed  not  "  her  own  feelings  only,  but 
those  of  all  the  convent  of  Koningsfeld  who  loved  the 
Gospel." 

M.  D'Aubigne  tells  us,  that  a  *'  convent  into  which  the 
light  of  the  Gospel  had  penetrated  with  such  power,  could 
not  long  continue  to  adhere  to  monastic  observances. 
Margaret  Watteville  and  her  sisters,  persuaded  that  they 
should  better  serve  God  in  their  families  than  in  the  clois- 
ter, solicited  permission  to  leave  it."t  The  council  of 
Berne  heard  their  prayer :  the  convent  "  gates  were  open* 
ed ;  and  a  short  time  afterwards,  Catharine  Bonnsteten 
{one  of  the  nuns)  married  William  Von  Diesbach."J  The 
nun  Margaret  Watteville  was  equally  fortunate:  she 
*'  was  about  the  same  time  united  to  Lucius  Tscharner 
of  Coira."§  Such  was  invariably  the  denouement  of  the 
reformation  plot. 

Our  historian,  in  fact,  views  the  sacrilegious  marriages 
of  the  priests  and  nuns — against  their  solemn  vows  freely 
plighted  to  God  at  his  holy  altar — as  the  most  conclusive 
proof  of  the  progress  of  the  reformation !  Mark  this  cu- 
rious passage  :  "  But  it  was  in  vain  to  attempt  to  smother 
the  reformation  at  Berne.  It  made  progress  on  all  sides. 
The  nuns  of  the  convent  D'lle  had  not  forgotten  Haller's 
visit.  (This  was  a  wretched  apostate,  who  had  held  im- 
proper discourse  in  the  convent,  which  drew  upon  him  a 
sentence  of  perpetual  banishment  from  the  '  lesser  coun- 
cil' of  Berne ;  which  sentence  was  however  mitigated  by 
the  'grand  council,' which. was  content  with  merely  re- 
buking him  and  his  associate  reformers,  and  ordering  them 
to  confine  themselves  in  future  to  their  own  business  and 

*  Given  in  full,  Ibid.  p.  281,  282.  f  Ibid.  t  Ibid. 

§  Ibid.  p.  285. 


136  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

let  the  convents  alone).*  *  Clara  May,  (one  of  the  nuns) 
and  many  of  her  friends,  pressed  in  their  consciences  (!) 
what  to  do,  wrote  to  the  learned  Henry  Bullinger.  In 
answer,  he  said :  *  St.  Paul  enjoins  young  women  not  to 
take  on  them  vows,  but  to  marry,  instead  of  living  in  idle- 
ness under  a  false  show  of  piety.  (1  Tim.  v.  13,  14). 
Follow  Jesus  in  humility,  charity,  patience,  purity,  and 
kindness.'  Clara,  looking  to  heaven  for  guidance,  re- 
solved to  act  on  the  advice,  and  renounce  a  manner  of  life 
at  variance  with  the  word  of  God  (and  her  own  inclinations) 
— of  man's  invention — and  beset  with  snares.  Her  grand- 
father Bartholomew,  who  had  served  for  fifty  years  in  the 
field  and  council  hall,  heard  with  joy  of  the  resolution 
she  had  formed.  Clara  quitted  the  convent, "t  and  mar- 
ried the  provost,  Nicholas  Watteville.± 

What  an  evidence  of  piety — "looking  to  heaven  for 
guidance" — it  is — to  get  married  !  And  what  a  perversion 
of  Scripture  was  that  by  Henry  Bullinger,  to  induce  those 
to  marry,  who  had  taken  solemn  vows  of  devoting  them- 
selves wholly  to  God  in  a  life  of  chastity !  As  this  is  a 
pretty  good  specimen  of  the  manner  in  which  the  reformers 
"wrested  the  Scriptures  to  their  own  perdition, "§  we  will 
give  entire  the  quotation  of  St.  Paul  to  Timothy,  referred 
toby  the  "learned  Bullinger,"  including  the  two  previous 
verses,  which  he  found  it  convenient  not  to  quote,  proba- 
bly because  they  would  have  convicted  him  of  the  most 
glaring  perversion  of  God's  holy  word. 

1  Timothy,  chap,  v,  verse  11.  "  But  the  younger  widows 
shun:  for  when  they  have  grown  wanton  in  Christ,  they 
will  marry ;  (this  advice  the  reformers  took  special  care 
not  to  follow). 

Verse  12.  "Having  damnation, because  they  have  made 
void  their  first  faith,  (by  violating  their  vows  to  God). 

V.  13.  **  And  withal,  being  idle,  they  learn  to  go  about 

♦  Such  at  least  is  the  statement  of  M.  D'Aubign6 — iii,  p.  279. 
t  Ibid.  p.  284.  X  Ibid.  p.  285.  §  2  Peter,  iii,  16. 


THE    REFORMATION    IN    SWITZERLAND.  1S7 

from  house  to  house  (as  the  escaped  nuns  did  at  the  time 
of  the  reformation)  :  not  only  idle,  but  talkers  also,  and  in- 
quisitive, speaking  things  which  they  ought  not." 

V.  14.  "I  will,  therefore,  that  the  younger  (who  had 
not  taken  vows)  should  marry,  bear  children,  be  mis- 
tresses of  families,  give  no  occasion  to  the  adversary  to 
speak  evil." 

This  passage  of  St.  Paul  speaks  for  itself,  and  needs  no 
commentary.  While  the  reformers  were  quoting  St.  Paul, 
to  induce  the  nuns  to  escape  from  their  convents  and  to 
get  married,  why  did  they  not  also  refef  to  the  following 
texts  : 

"But  I  say  to  the  unmarried  and  to  the  widows:  it  is 
good  for  them  so  to  continue,  even  as  I."* 

*' Art  thou  bound  to  a  wife?  Seek  not  to  be  loosed. 
Art  thou  loosed  from  a  wife  ?   Seek  not  a  wife.'^^\ 

*'  But  I  would  have  you  to  be  without  solicitude.  Tie 
that  is  without  a  wife,  is  solicitous  for  the  things  that  be- 
long to  the  Lord,  how  he  may  please  God.  But  he  that  is 
with  a  wife,  is  solicitous  for  the  things  of  the  world,  how 
he  may  please  his  wife  :  and  he  is  divided."! 

And  why  did  they  conceal  the  following  texts,  which  had 
special  reference  to  the  nuns  who,  '*  having  grown  wanton 
in  Christ,  would  marry,  having  damnation,  because  they 
had  made  void  their  first  faith  ?" 

**  And  the  unmarried  woman  and  the  virgin  thinketh  on 
the  things  of  the  Lord,  that  she  may  be  holy  both  in  body 
and  spirit.  But  she  that  is  married,  thinketh  on  the 
things  of  the  world,  how  she  may  please  her  husband. 
Therefore,  both  he  who  giveth  his  virgin  in  marriage 
doeth  well ;  and  he  that  giveth  her  not,  doeth  better."§ 

Alas  !  the  carnal  minded  reformers  understood  little  of 
this  sublime  perfection !  They  could  not  appreciate  it. 
They  were  satisfied  with  *'  doing  well ;"  nor  did  they  even 

*  I  Corinth,  vii,  S.  j  l^i^l-  v.  27.  X  I^^id.  vv.  S2,  33. 

§  Ibid.  vv.  34,  38. 
12* 


138  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

come  up  to  this  standard,  any  farther,  at  least,  than  to 
get  married  !  Their  case  is  explained  bj  St.  Paul,  in  the 
same  epistle  from  which  the  above  texts  are  extracted. 
**  But  the  sensual  man  perceiveth  not  the  things  that  are 
of  the  spirit  of  God:  for  it  is  foolishness  to  him,  and  he 
cannot  understand:  because  it  is  spiritually  examined."* 
We  shall  here  close  our  remarks  on  the  reformation  in 
Switzerland,  which,  as  we  have,  we  hope,  sufficiently 
shown,  pandered  to  the  worst  passions,  created  disturb- 
ance and  civil  commotions  wherever  it  appeared,  revelled 
in  war  and  bloodshed,  and  was  finally  established  by  the 
strong  arm  of  the  civil  power.  We  shall  hereafter  devote  a 
separate  chapter  to  the  Calvinistic  branch  of  the  reforma- 
tion established  at  Geneva. 

*  1  Corinth,  ii,  14. 


CHAPTER   VI. 


REACTION    OF    CATHOLICITY,,  AND    DECLINE    OF    PROTESTANTISM. 

Two  parallel  developments — The  brave  old  ship — Modern  Protestant- 
ism quite  powerless — A  "  thorough  godly  reformation"  needed — 
Qualities  for  a  reformer — The  three  days'  battle — The  puzzle — A 
thing  doomed — Which  gained  the  victory  ? — The  French  revolu- 
tion— Kanke  and  Hallam — The  rush  of  waters  stayed — Persecution 
en  passant — Protestant  spice — The  council  of  Trent — Revival  of 
piety — The  Jesuits — Leading  causes  and  practical  results — Decline 
of  Protestantism — Apt  comparison — What  stemmed  the  current? — 
Thread  of  Ariadne — Divine  Providence— Reaction  of  Catholicity — 
Casaubon  and  Grotius — Why  they  were  not  converted — Ancient  and 
modern  Puseyism — Justus  Lipsius  and  Cassander — The  inference — 
Splendid  passage  of  Macauley — Catholicity  and  enlightenment — The 
church  indestructible — General  gravitation  to  Rome — The  circle  and 
its  centre. 

No  feature  in  the  whole  history  of  the  reformation  is 
perhaps  more  remarkable  than  that  which  is  presented  bv 
the  speedy  decline  of  Protestantism,  on  the  one  hand,  and 
the  no  less  rapid  reaction  of  Catholicity  on  the  other.  A 
rapid  glance  at  the  history  of  these  two  great  develop- 
ments of  the  two  systems  of  religion  will  throw  much 
additional  light  on  their  respective  characters,  and  will 
serve  to  explain  to  us  yet  more  fully  what  we  have  been 
endeavoring  to  elucidate  thus  far — the  character,  causes, 
and  manner  of  the  reformation.  It  is  a  divine  maxim  to 
judge  the  tree  by  its  fruits  :  and  we  propose,  in  the  pre- 
sent chapter,  to  make  a  general  application  of  this  rule ; 
reserving,  however,  more  special  details  on  the  subject  to 
those  which  will  follow. 

The  reformation  swept  over  the  world  like  a  violent 
storm  :  and  it  left  as  many  ruins  in  its  course.  It  threat- 
ened to  overturn  every  thing,  and  to  carry  all  before  it. 
So  rapid  was  its  work  of  destruction,  that  its  admirers — 


140  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

those  "  who  moved  in  the  whirlwind" — confidently  pre- 
dicted the  speedy  downfall  of  the  old  religion,  and  the 
triumphant  establishment  of  the  new  ones  on  its  ruins. 
Even  many  of  those  who  remained  steadfast  in  the  an- 
cient faith,  though  firmly  relying  on  the  solemn  promises 
of  Christ,  yet  trembled  not  a  little  for  the  safety  of  the 
church.  Jesus  seemed  to  be  asleep  while  the  tempest 
was  raging  on  the  sea  of  the  world  ;  and  his  disciples, 
who  were  in  the  good  old  ship  of  the  church  tossed  on  the 
waves,  like  their  prototypes  of  the  Gospel,  **  came  to  him, 
and  awaked  him,  saying :  '  Lord,  save  us,  we  perish.' 
And  Jesus  said  to  them:  *  Why  are  ye  fearful,  O  ye  of 
little  faith  ?'  Then  rising  up,  he  commanded  the  winds 
and  the  sea,  and  there  came  a  great  calm."* 

Such  was  precisely  the  phenomenon  presented  by  the 
history  of  the  church  in  the  sixteenth  century.  Soon  the 
storm  of  the  reformation  had  spent  its  fury,  and  settled 
down  into  a  *'  great  calm" — the  calm  of  indifferentism 
and  infidelity  on  the  lately  troubled  sea  of  Protestantism  ; 
and  of  peace  and  security  on  the  broad  ocean  of  Catholi- 
cism. When  men's  minds  had  had  time  to  recover  from 
the  exdtement  produced  by  the  first  movements  of  the  re- 
formation, they  were  enabled  to  estimate  more  justly  the 
motives  and  causes  of  that  revolution.  The  result  was, 
that  many  enlightened  protestants  returned  to  the  bosom 
of  the  Catholic  church ;  while  others  plunged  into  the 
vortex  of  infidelity.  Thus  Catholicity,  far  from  being 
extinguished,  powerfully  reacted. 

Like  the  sturdy  oak  of  the  forest,  which,  instead  of 
oeing  thrown  down  by  the  storm,  vanquishes  its  fury,  and 
even  sends  its  roots  farther  into  the  earth  in  consequence 
of  the  agitation  so  also  the  tree  of  the  church,  planted 
by  Christ  and  watered  with  his  blood  and  that  of  his  mar- 
t  rs,  successfully  resisted  the  violence  of  the  storm  of 
Protestantism,  and  became,  in  consequence  of  it,  more 

'  St.  Mattli.  viii,  24—26. 


CATHOLIC  reaction;  the  reform  declines.      141 

firmly  and  solidly  fixed  in  the  soil  of  the  world — more 
strongly  '*  rooted  and  founded  in  charity."* 

Nothing  is  more  certain  in  history,  than  this  two-fold 
development.  Even  M.  D'Aubigne,  surely  an  unexcep- 
tionable witness,  admits  its  entire  truth,  however  he  may 
seek  to  disguise  it  by  the  thin  mantle  of  sophistry .t 
Speaking  of  the  decline  of  modern  Protestantism,  he  em- 
ploys this  emphatic  language.  "  But  modern  Protestant- 
ism, like  old  Catholicism  (!),  is,  in  itself,  a  thing  from 
which  nothing  can  be  hoped — a  thing  quite  povv^erless. 
Something  very  different  is  necessary  to  restore  to  men 
of  our  day  the  energy  which  saves.'':}:  So  that,  the  expe- 
riment of  Protestantism,  notwithstanding  all  the  noise  it 
has  made  in  the  world,  and  all  its  loud  boasting  about 
destroying  superstition  and  enlightening  mankind,  has 
yet  turned  out  a  complete  failure,  even  according  to  the 
explicit  avowal  of  its  most  unscrupulous  advocate  !  !  It 
has  been  "  enlightening  and  saving"  the  world  for  full 
three  hundred  years ;  and  in  the  end  it  has  lost  itself,  and 
become  "  a  thing  quite  powerless,  from  which  nothing 
can  be  hoped  !" 

A  new  reformation  is  necessary  to  reform  the  old  one, 
and  to  impart  to  it  "  the  energy  which  saves."  M.D'Au- 
bigne,  we  presume,  is  ip  be  the  father  of  this  new  "  tho- 
rough-godly" reformation  !  We  wish  him  joy  of  his  new 
apostleship,  and  hope  he  may  succeed  better  than  his  pre- 
decessors. He  has,  we  humbly  think,  all  the  qualities 
requisite  for  a  reformer,  according  to  the  type  of  the  six- 
teenth century,  viz.  a  smattering  of  learning, — a  sancti- 
monious air,  in  which  he  greatly  excels  some  of  his  prede- 
cessors— a  skill  in  sophistry,  which  has  the  admirable 
simplicity  of  not  being  always  even  specious — and,  to 
crown  all,  an  utter  recklessness  of  truth. 

We  will  here  give  a  passage  from  our  historian,  which 

*  Epheaians,  iii,  17. 

t  The  mantle  of  his  sophistry  is  always  ihin ;  and  it  requires  not  the 
gift  of  clairvoyance  to  see  through  it.  %  Vol.  i.    Preface,  p.  ix. 


142  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

has  the  double  merit  of  exhibiting  the  gist  of  his  theory 
on  our  present  subject,  and  of  being  a  perfect  curiosity  in 
its  genre.  M.  D'Aubigne's  whole  work  is,  however,  we 
may  remark,  en  passant,  a  perfect  *'  cabinet  of  curiosi- 
ties" in  this  way.  The  passage  is  found  in  the  third  vol- 
ume of  his  "  History  of  the  Great  Reformation."  It  is 
an  attempt  to  answer  a  writer  of  the  Port  Royal,*  who 
had  compared  the  struggle  of  the  last  three  centuries  to  a 
battle  of  three  days'  duration ;  and  who  had  accumulated 
evidence  to  prove  that  the  infidel  philosophers  of  France, 
who  brought  about  the  French  revolution,  had  but  carried 
out  the  principles  broached  by  the  reformers.  Our  author 
"  willingly  adopts  the  comparison,  but  not  the  part  that  is 
allotted  to  each  of  these  days."  He  politely  declines  re- 
ceiving the  well  deserved  compliment  the  Frenchman  was 
paying  him,  with  his  most  gracious  bow.  Then  follows 
the  curious  passage. 

**No,  each  of  those  days  had  its  marked  and  peculiar 
characteristic.  On  the  first  (the  sixteenth  century)  the 
word  of  God  triumphed,  and  Rome  was  defeated;  and 
philosophy,  in  the  person  of  P^rasmus,  shared  in  the  defeat. 
On  the  second  (the  seventeenth  century)  we  admit  that 
Rome,  her  authority,  her  discipline,  and  her  doctrine,  are 
again  seen  on  the  point  of  obtaining  the  victory,  through 
the  intrigues  of  a  far-famed  society  (the  Jesuits),  and  the 
power  of  the  scaffold,  aided  by  certain  leaders  of  eminent 
character,  and  others  of  lofty  genius.  The  third  day,  (the 
eighteenth  century)  human  philosophy  arises  in  all  its 
pride,  and  finding  the  battle-field  occupied,  not  by  the 
Gospel,  but  by  Rome,  it  quickly  storms  every  entrench- 
ment, and  gains  an  easy  conquest.  The  first  day's  bat- 
tle was  for  God,  the  second  for  the  priest,  and  the  third 
for  reason — what  shall  the  fourth  be  ?"t 

Aye,  that's  the  puzzle  !  He  piously  hopes  that  it  will 
be  for  "the  triumph  of  him  to  whom  triumph  belongs, "J 

*  Port  Royal,  par  Sainte  Beuve,  vol.  i,p.  20.     f  Vol.  iii,  p.  304.    l]j^ 


CATHOLIC  reaction;  the  reform  declines.       143 

that  is,  for  his  own  new  system  of  reformation,  which  is  to 
be  but  the  **  reappearance"  of  the  old.  But  this  is  mani- 
festly hoping  against  all  hope;  for  modern  Protestantism, 
he  confesses,  is  "  a  powerless  thing.^^  It  has  settled  down 
into  an  almost  mortal  lethargy,  in  all  those  countries  where 
it  was  first  established,  and  where  the  progress  of  enlight- 
enment has  laid  bare  to  the  world  its  endless  vagaries  and 
ever  growing  inconsistencies — its  hopeless  powerlessness. 
Its  tendency  is  necessarily  downward  ;  it  bears  in  its  own 
bosom  the  seeds  of  death ;  it  must  share  the  fate  of  all  other 
mere  human  institutions,  and  must  aiford  another  verifica- 
tion of  our  blessed  Saviour's  prophetic  declaration:  "every 
plant  which  my  heavenly  Father  hath  not  planted,  shall  be 
rooted  up."*  No  human  eloquence  or  effort  can  prevent 
it  from  abiding  this  doom,  the  seal  of  which  is  already,  in 
fact,  branded  on  its  forehead,  M.  D'Aubigne  himself  being 
witness!  And  had  he  been  silent,  "the  stones  would  have 
cried  out" — to  pronounce  this  fate  ! 

It  is  needless  for  us  to  dwell  long  in  the  examination  of 
his  theory  about  the  "  three  days'  battle."  The  triumph 
which  he  ascribes  to  the  reformation  on  the  first  day  was 
not  real — it  was  scarcely  even  apparent.  Notwithstand- 
ing the  premature  shouts  of  victory  by  the  reformed  party, 
the  old  church  still  retained  a  vast  ascendency  in  point  of 
numbers,  of  extension,  and  also,  as  we  shall  prove  in  the 
sequel,  of  intelligence.  In  compensation  for  her  losses  on 
the  battle  field  of  Europe,  she  gained  great  accessions  to 
her  numbers  in  the  East  Indies,  in  Asia,  and  in  the  new 
world,  which  her  navigators  had  discovered,  and  her  mis- 
sionaries converted.  When  a  portion  of  Europe  spurned 
her  voice,  she  "turned  to  the  Gentiles,"  and  waved  the 
banner  of  her  cross  in  triumph  over  new  worlds.  She  cer- 
tainly then  gained  the  advantage,  even  in  the  "  first  day's 
battle." 

In  the  second,  she  was  avowedly  in  the  ascendant. 
During  it,  she,  (o  a  great  extent,  retrieved  her  losses  in 
*  St.  Matth.  XV,  13. 


144  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

Europe  itself.  Of  course,  all  the  talk  about  "the  in- 
trigues of  a  far-famed  society  and  the  power  of  the  scaf- 
fold," is  mere  palaver.  We  shall  soon  prove  it  to  be  little 
better,  on  unquestionable  Protestant  authority.  As  to  the 
scaffold,  we  hope  to  show  hereafter,*  by  a  mass  of  evidence 
which  cannot  be  answered,  that  it  was  much  oftener 
erected  by  those  who  raised  the  clamor  for  the  emancipa- 
tion of  thought,  than  by  those  who  continued  to  abide  in 
the  old  church. 

In  the  third  day's  battle,  Catholicity  again  triumphed. 
The  French  revolution  was,  in  fact,  but  the  "reappear- 
ance" of  the  "  great  reformation,"  in  another  and  more 
terrific  shape.  The  French  infidels  made  as  much  noise 
about  liberty  of  thought,  and  inveighed  as  fiercely  against 
the  corruptions  of  the  Catholic  church-,  as  had  been  done 
by  the  reformers  two  and  a  half  centuries  before.  The 
former  did  little  more  than  catchup  the  Babel-like  sounds 
of  the  latter,  and  re-echo  them  in  a  voice  of  thunder 
throughout  Europe.  But  this  mere  human  thunder  was 
drowned  by  the  divine  thunder  of  the  Vatican !  Rome 
conquered  the  daughter,  as  she  had  erewhile  conquered 
the  mother.  If  she  alone  "occupied  the  battle  field,"  it 
was  because  the  Protestants  had  retired  from  it — had  inglo- 
riously  fled,  and  left  Christianity  to  its  fate,  in  this,  its 
fiercest  struggle  with  infidelity !  Did  Protestants  win  one 
laurel  in  that  battle  field  ?  Can  they  count  one  martyr 
who  fell  a  victim  in  that  bloody  effort  to  put  down  Chris- 
tianity ?  The  Catholic  clergy  were  massacred  in  hun- 
dreds;  they  poured  out  their  blood  like  water,  for  the  de- 
fence of  religion.  Did  the  French  infidels  attack  Pro- 
testants ?  If  they  did  not — and  they  certainly  did  not — 
then  how  are  we  to  explain  this  phenomenon,  but  on  the 
principle  of  a  sympathetic  feeling  }  Men  seldom  go  to  bat- 
tle against  their  friends  and  allies. 

To  show  the  rapid  decline  of  Protestantism,  after  the 

*  In  chapter  x.     "  On  Religious  Liberty." 


CATHOLIC  reaction;  the  reform  declines.      145 

first  fifty  years  of  its  violent  existence;  and  to  unfold  the 
parallel  reaction  of  Catholicism,  we  had  intended  to  pre- 
sent a  rapid  analysis  of  what  a  famous  living  Protestant 
writer  of  Germany — Leopold  Ranke — has  abundantly 
proved  on  the  subject,  in  his  late  •*  History  of  the  Papacy 
during  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries."*  But 
Henry  Hallam,  another  eminent  living  Protestant  writer 
of  great  research  and  authority,  has  anticipated  us  in  our 
labor.  In  his  History  of  Literature,  already  quoted,  he  fol- 
lows Ranke,  and  presents  every  thing  of  consequence, 
bearing  on  our  present  subject,  which  the  eminent  Ger- 
man historian  had  more  fully  exhibited,  as  the  result  of 
much  patient  labor  and  research.  Mr.  Hallam  also  adds 
many  things  of  his  own.  His  work  has  thus  greatly 
abridged  our  labor,  and  we  shall  do  little  more  than 
cull  from  its  pages,  and  put  into  order  what  may  serve 
to  elucidate  the  matter  in  hand.  We  presume  that  no 
impartial  man  will  question  our  authorities. 

The  decline  of  Protestantism,  and  the  reaction  of  Ca- 
tholicism were  intimately  connected :  they  went  hand  in 
hand.  The  same  causes  that  explain  the  one,  will  in  a 
great  measure  account  for  the  other ;  with  perhaps  this 
exception,  that  Protestantism,  like  all  other  mere  human 
institutions,  carried  within  its  own  bosom  an  intrinsic 
principle  of  dissolution  ;  whereas  Catholicity,  on  the  other 
hand,  had  within  itself  strongly  developed  the  principle  of 
vitality  and  of  permanency.  These  two  opposite  features 
were,  in  fact,  distinctive  of  the  two  systems. 

According  to  Mr.  Hallam,  Protestantism  began  to  de- 
cline, and  Catholicity  to  gain  ground,  shortly  after  the 
middle  of  the  sixteenth  century.  The  immediate  disci- 
ples of  the  reformers,  after  the  death  of  the  latter,  soon 
lost  the  fierce  and  v/arlike  spirit  manifested  by  those  who 
had  first  reared  the  banner  of  revolt  against  Rome.     The 

*  "  Histoire  de  la  Papaute  pendant  les  xvi  et  xvii  siecles."    Tra- 
duite  de  I'AlIemand  par  M.J.  B.  Haiber.    4  vols.  8vo.    A  Paris,  1838. 
13 


146  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

enthusiasm  of  the  first  onslaught  speedily  died  away,  and 
the  principle  of  hatred  which  had  originated  the  reforma- 
tion, was  gradually  weakened.  A  counter  principle  of 
love — the  very  essence  of  Christianity  and  of  God  himself 
— gradually  gained  the  ascendant  in  the  bosom  of  those 
who,  in  a  moment  of  fierce  excitement,  had  been  estranged 
from  the  Catholic  church.  The  consequence  was  that 
vast  bodies  of  Protestants  re-entered  its  pale. 

Both  Ranke  and  Hallam  bear  evidence  to  the  truth  of 
these  remarks.  The  latter  says :  '*  This  prodigious  increase 
of  the  Protestant  party  in  Europe  after  the  middle  of  the 
century  (xvi)  did  not  continue  more  than  a  few  years.  It 
was  checked  and  fell  back,  not  quite  so  rapidly  or  com- 
pletely as  it  came  on,  but  so  as  to  leave  the  antagonist 
church  in  perfect  security."  After  a  tedious  apology  for 
entering  on  this  subject  in  a  history  of  literature,  he  pro- 
poses '*  to  dwell  a  little  on  the  leading  causes  of  this  retro- 
grade movement  of  Protestantism  ;  a  fact,"  he  continues, 
•'as  deserving  of  explanation  as  the  previous  excitement 
of  the  reformation  itself,  though  from  its  more  negative 
character,  it  has  not  drawn  so  much  of  the  attention  of 
mankind.  Those  who  behold  the  outbreaking  of  great  re- 
volutions in  civil  society  or  in  religion,  will  not  easily  be- 
lieve that  the  rush  of  waters  can  be  stayed  in  its  course; 
that  a  pause  of  indifference  may  come  on,  perhaps  very 
suddenly,  or  a  reaction  bring  back  nearly  the  same  preju- 
dices anel  passions  (!)  as  those  which  men  had  renounced. 
Yet  this  has  occurred  not  very  rarely  in  the  annals  of  man- 
kind, and  never  on  a  larger  scale  than  in  the  history  of 
the  reformation  !"* 

He  then  proceeds  to  assign  some  of  the  leading  causes 
which,  according  to  his  view,  "  stayed  the  rush  of  waters" 
of  the  revolution,  called  by  courtesy  the  reformation. 
After  speaking  of  the  stern  policy  of  Philip  II  of  Spain, 
and  assigning  undue  prominence  to  the  inquisition,  "wiiich 

*  "History  of  Literature,"  kc.  sujj.  cli.  voLi,  p.  272,  ?6. 


CATHOLIC  reaction;  the  reform  declines.      147 

soon  extirpated  the  remains  of  heresy  in  Italy  and  Spain" 
— into  which  countries  Protestantism  never  penetrated,  at 
least  to  any  extent,  and  therefore  could  not  be  "extirpa- 
ted"— he  next  alludes  to  the  civil  wars  in  France  betvi^een 
the  Huguenots  and  the  Catholics,  and  then  comes  down 
to  Germany.  *'But  in  Bavaria  Albert  V,  with  whom, 
about  1564,  this  reaction  began,  in  the  Austrian  dominions, 
Rodolph  II,  in  Poland  Sigismund  III,  by  shutting  up 
churches,  and  by  discountenancing  in  all  respects  their 
Protestant  subjects,  contrived  to  change  a  party  once 
powerful,  into  an  oppressed  sect."* 

We  hate  persecution,  no  matter  what  is  made  the  pre- 
text for  its  exercise ;  but  every  candid  man  must  allow 
that,  in  resorting  to  these  measures  of  severity,  the  Ger- 
man princes  did  but  repay  their  "  Protestant  subjects"  in 
their  own  coin.  If  they  took  from  them  their  churches, 
it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  those  same  churches  were 
erected  by  Catholics  to  whom  they  rightfully  belonged,  and 
that,  in  the  first  effervescence  of  the  reformation  they  had 
been  seized  on  violently  by  the  Protestant  party.  They  did 
but  take  back  bylaw  what  had  been  wrested  from  the  rightful 
owners  by  lawless  violence,  and  what  would  not  have  been 
otherwise  surrendered.  If  **  they  discountenanced  their 
Protestant  subjects,"  it  was  only  after  a  long  and  bitter 
experience  of  the  troubles  they  had  caused,  of  the  riots 
and  conflagrations  they  had  brought  about  in  the  abused 
name  of  religion,  and  of  the  utter  fruitlessness  of  concilia- 
tory measures. 

Besides,  had  not  the  German  Protestant  princes  pro- 
ceeded with  still  greater  harshness  against  their  Catholic 
subjects,  whose  only  crime  was  their  calm  and  inoffensive 
adherence  to  the  religion  of  their  fathers  ?  The  account 
was  certainly  more  than  balanced,  as  we  shall  show  more 
fully  hereafter.!  These  are  at  least  extenuating  circum- 
stances, which  a  man  of  Mr.  Hallam's  moderate  principles 

•  Ibid.  p.  273,  ?  7.  t  Chapter  x. 


148  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

should  not  have  wholly  concealed.  But,  we  presume,  he 
deemed  it  expedient  to  add  a  little  Protestant  spice  in 
order  to  season  for  the  palate  of  his  English  Protestant 
readers,  the  otherwise  insipid  viands  of  admissions  in  fa- 
vor of  Catholicity,  which  he  was  serving  up  for  them. 

One  leading  cause  of  the  reaction  of  Catholicity,  accord- 
ing to  him,  was  the  promulgation  and  general  adoption  of 
the  decrees  of  the  council  of  Trent.  *'  The  decrees  of  the 
council  of  Trent  were'received  by  the  spiritual  princes  of 
the  empire  (German)  in  1566;  *  and  from  this  moment,' 
says  the  excellent  historian  who  has  thrown  most  light  on 
this  subject,  *  began  a  new  life  for  the  Catholic  church  in 
Germany.'  "*  We  heartily  concur  in  the  truth  of  this 
remark.  Divine  Providence,  which  draws  good  out  of 
evil,  wisely  brought  about  the  council  of  Trent,  and 
watched  over  its  long  protracted  and  often  interrupted 
labors  till  they  were  brought  to  a  happy  termination. 
This  was  the  only  legal,  as  well  as  the  only  adequate  re- 
medy to  the  evils  of  the  church  in  the  sixteenth  century. 
The  Tridentine  canons  and  decrees  for  reformation,  exer- 
cised a  powerful  influence  throughout  Christendom.  Faith 
was  every  where  settled  on  an  immoveable  basis,  local 
abuses  disappeared,  and  piety  revived.  The  reformation 
was  the  indirect  cause  of  all  this  good ;  and  in  this  point 
of  view,  if  in  few  others,  it  deserves  our  gratitude. 

The  revival  of  piety,  through  the  influence  of  the  Tri- 
dentine council,  is  thus  attested  by  Mr.  Hallam.  "The 
reaction  could  not,  however,  have  been  efl*ected  by  any 
efforts  of  the  princes  against  so  preponderating  a  majority 
as  the  Protestant  churches  had  obtained,  if  the  principles 
that  originally  actuated  them  had  retained  their  animating 
influence,  or  had  not  been  opposed  by  more  effieacious  re- 
sistance. Every  method  was  adopted  to  revive  an  attach- 
ment to  the  ancient  religion,  insuperable  by  the  love  of 
novelty,  or  the  power  of  argument (!).   A  stricter  disci- 

*  flank6,  ii,  p.  46.    Hallam,  ibid. 


CATHOLIC  reaction;  the  reform  declines.       149 

pline  and  subordination  were  introduced  among  the  clergy : 
they  were  early  trained  in  seminaries,  apart  from  the  sen- 
timents and  habits,  the  vices  and  virtues  (!)  of  the  world. 
The  monastic  orders  resumed  their  "rigid  observances."* 

"  But,  far  above  all  the  rest,  the  Jesuits  were  the  instru- 
ments for  regaining  France  and  Germany  to  the  church 
they  served.  And  we  are  more  closely  concerned  with 
them  here,  that  they  are  in  this  age  among  the  links  be- 
tween religious  opinion  and  literature.  We  have  seen  in 
the  last  chapter|with  what  spirit  they  took  the  lead  in 
polite  letters  and  classical  style ;  with  what  dexterity  they 
made  the  brightest  spirits  of  the  rising  generation,  which 
the  church  had  once  dreaded  and  checked  (more  spice), 
her  most  willing  and  effective  instruments.  The  whole 
course  of  liberal  studies,  however  deeply  grounded  in  eru- 
dition, or  embellished  by  eloquence,  took  one  direction, 
one  perpetual  aim — the  propagation  of  the  Catholic 
faith.f  ....  They  knew  how  to  clear  their  reasoning 
from  scholastic  pedantry  and  tedious  quotation  for  the 
simple  and  sincere  understandings  which  they  addressed; 
yet,  in  the  proper  field  of  controversial  theology,  they 
wanted  nothing  of  sophistical  (!)  expertness  or  of  erudition. 
The  weak  points  of  Protestantism  they  attacked  with  em- 
barrassing ingenuity;  and  the  reformed  churches  did  not 
cease  to  give  them  abundant  advantages  by  inconsistency, 
extravagance,  and  passion.":]: 

**  At  the  death  of  Ignatius  Loyola,"  he  continues,  "in 
1556,  the  order  he  had  founded  was  divided  into  thirteen 
provinces  besides  the  Roman;  most  of  which  were  in  the 
Spanish  peninsula,  or  its  colonies.  Ten  colleges  belonged 
to  Castile,  eight  to  Aragon,  and  five  to  Andalusia.  Spain 
was  for  some  time  the  fruitful  mother  of  the  disciples,  as 
she  had  been  of  the  master.  The  Jesuits  who  came  to 
Germany  were  called  '  Spanish  priests.'     They  took  pos- 

*  Ibid.  §8.  t  Ibid.  §9. 

X  Ibid.  §  10,  where  he  cites  Hospiaian,  Ranke,  and  Tiraboschi,  the 
first  a  declared  enemy  of  the  Jesuits. 
13* 


150  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

session  of  the  universities :  *  they  conquered  us,'  says 
Ranke,  *  on  our  own  ground,  in  our  own  homes,  and  strip- 
ped us  of  a  part  of  our  ov/n  country.'  This,  the  acute 
historian  proceeds  to  say,  sprung  certainly  from  the  want 
of  understanding  among  the  Protestant  theologians,  and 
of  sufficient  enlargement  of  mind  to  tolerate  unessential 
differences.  The  violent  opposition  among  each  other, 
left  a  way  open  to  these  cunning  strangers,  who  taught  a 
doctrine  not  open  to  dispute."* 

He  then  proceeds  to  treat  of  the  practical  results 
brought  about  by  these  causes.  These  were  a  rapid  de- 
clension of  Protestantism,  and  a  correspondent  increase 
of  Catholicism.  ''Protestantism,  so  late  as  1578,  might 
be  deemed  preponderant  in  all  the  Austrian  dominions, 
except  the  Tyrol.t  In  the  Polish  diets,  the  dissidents, 
as  they  were  called,  met  their  opponents  with  vigor  and 
success.  The  ecclesiastical  principalities  were  full  of 
Protestants ;  and  even  in  the  chapters  some  of  them  might 
be  found.  But  the  contention  was  unequal,  from  the  dif- 
ferent character  of  the  parties ;  religious  zeal  and  devo- 
tion (!),  which  fifty  years  before  had  overthrown  the  an- 
cient rites  in  northern  Germany,  were  now  more  invigo- 
rating sentiments  in  those  who  secured  them  from  farther 
innovation.  In  religious  struggles,  where  there  is  any 
thing  like  an  equality  of  forces,  the  question  soon  comes  to 
be  which  party  will  make  the  greatest  sacrifice  for  its  own 
faith.  And  while  the  Catholic  self-devotion  had  grown 
far  stronger,  there  was  much  more  of  secular  cupidity, 
lukewarmness,  and  formality  in  the  Lutheran  church. 
In  very  few  years,  the  effects  of  this  were  distinctly  vis- 
ible. The  Protestants  of  the  Catholic  principalities  went 
back  into  the  bosom  of  Rome.  In  the  bishoprick  of 
Wartzburg  alone,  sixty-two  thousand  converts  are  said  to 
have  been  received  in  the  year  1586.":}: 

**  The  reaction,"  he  continues  a  little  afterwards,  *'  was 

*  Ibid.  p.  274,  §  U.  t  Ranke,  ii,  p.  78.        |  Ranke,  ii,  p.  121. 


CATHOLIC  reaction;  the  reform  declines.      151 

not  less  conspicuous  in  other  countries.  It  is  asserted 
*  that  the  Huguenots  had  already  lost  more  than  two- 
thirds  of  their  number  in  1580;'*  comparatively,  I  pre- 
sume, with  twenty  years  before.  And  the  change  in  their 
relative  position  is  manifest  from  all  the  histories  of  this 

period At  the  close  of  this  period  of  fifty  years 

(A.D.  1600),  the  mischief  done  to  the  old  church  in  its  first 
decennium  (from  1550  to  1560)  was  very  nearly  repaired  ; 
the  proportions  of  the  two  religions  in  Germany  coin- 
cided with  those  which  had  existed  at  the  pacification  of 
Passau.  The  Jesuits,  however,  had  begun  to  encroach 
a  little  on  the  proper  domain  of  the  Lutheran  church ; 
besides  private  conversions,  which,  on  account  of  the  ri- 
gor of  the  laws,  not  certainly  less  intolerant  than  in  their 
own  communion,  could  not  be  very  prominent;  they  had 
sometimes  hcpes  of  the  Protestant  princes,  and  had  once, 
in  1578,  obtained  the  promise  of  John,  king  of  Sweden, 
to' embrace  openly  the  Romish  (!)  faith,  as  he  had  already 
done  in  secret  to  Passevin,  an  emissary  (!)  despatched  by 
the  pope  on  this  important  errand.  But  the  symptoms  of 
an  opposition,  very  formidable  in  a  country  which  has 
never  allowed  its  kings  to  trifle  with  it  {except  at  the  time 
of  the  reformation),  made  this  wavering  monarch  retrace 
his  steps.  His  successor,  Sigismund,  went  farther,  and 
fell  a  victim  to  his  zeal,  by  being  expelled  from  his  king- 
dom."!    Here  was  Protestant  toleration  ! 

*'  This  great  reaction  of  the  papal  (!)  religion,"  he  pro- 
ceeds, *'  after  the  shock  it  had  sustained  in  the  first  part 
of  the  sixteenth  century,  ought  for  ever  to  restrain  that 
temerity  of  prediction  so  frequent  in  our  ears.  As  wo- 
men sometimes  believe  the  fashion  of  last  year  in  dress 
to  be  wholly  ridiculous,  and  incapable  of  being  ever  again 
adopted  by  any  one  solicitous  for  her  beauty,:}:  so  those 
who  affect  to  pronounce  on  future  events  are  equally  con- 

*  Ranke,  ii,  p.  147.  f  Hallam,  ibid.  p.  275,  §  14. 

X  A  very  apposite  eomparison,  truly,  to  illustrate  the  new  religious 
fashions  ! 


152  p'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

fident  against  the  possibility  of  a  resurrection  of  opinions 
which  the  majority  have  for  the  time  ceased  to  maintain. 
In  the  year  1560,  every  Protestant  in  Europe  doubtless 
anticipated  the  overthrow  of  popery  (!);  the  Catholics 
could  have  found  little  else  to  warrant  hope  than  their 
trust  in  heaven.  The  late  rush  of  many  nations  towards 
democratical  opinions  has  not  been  so  rapid  and  so  gene- 
ral as  the  change  of  religion  about  that  period.  It  is  im- 
portant and  interesting  to  inquire  what  stemmed  this  cur- 
rent. We  readily  acknowledge  the  prudence,  firmness, 
and  unity  of  purpose  that,  for  the  most  part,  distinguished 
the  court  of  Rome,  the  obedience  of  its  hierarchy,  the 
severity  of  intolerant  laws,  and  the  searching  rigor  of  the 
inquisition  {more  spice) ;  the  resolute  adherence  of  the 
great  princes  of  the  Catholic  faith,  the  influence  of  the 
Jesuits  over  education  :  but  these  either  existed  before, 
or  would,  at  least,  not  have  been  sufficient  to  withstand 
an  overwhelming  force  of  opinion. 

"  It  must  he  acknowledged  that  there  was  a  principle  of  vi- 
tality in  that  religion  independent  of  its  external  strength. 
By  the  side  of  its  secular  pomp,  its  relaxation  of  morali- 
ty (!),  there  had  always  been  an  intense  flame  of  zeal  and 
devotion.  Superstition  it  might  be  in  the  many,  fanati- 
cism in  a  few  ;  but  both  of  these  imply  the  qualities 
which,  while  they  subsist,  render  a  religion  indestructi- 
ble. That  revival  of  an  ardent  zeal  through  which  the 
Franciscans  had  in  the  thirteenth  century,  with  some 
good,  and  much  more  evil  efl*ect  (!)j  spread  a  popular  en- 
thusiasm over  Europe,  was  once  more  displayed  in  coun- 
teraction of  those  new  doctrines,  that  themselves  had 
drawn  their  life  from  a  similar  development  of  moral 
emotion."* 

Coming  from  the  source  it  does,  this  is  truly  a  valuable 
avowal.  After  all  the  talk,  then,  about  the  "  downfall  of 
popery" — after  all  the  loud  boasting  and  high  pretensions 

*  Ibid.  p.  275,  276,  §  15. 


CATHOLIC  REACTION  ;   THE  REFORM  DECLINES.         153 

of  Protestantism — the  experiment  of  three  hundred  years 
is  beginning  to  convince  all  reasonable  men  of  what  they 
should  have  known  before — that  the  Catholic  religion 
"  has  a  principle  of  vitality  in  her,"  and  that  she  is  "  in- 
destructible." It  could  not  be  otherwise :  Christ  him- 
self had  pledged  his  solemn  word  that  "the  gates  of  hell 
should  not  prevail  against  his  church,  built  on  a  rock  :"* 
and  this  simple  promise  solves  the  whole  mystery  which 
so  sadly  puzzled  Ranke  and  Hallam.  It  is  the  thread  of 
Ariadne,  which  would  have  conducted  them  with  security 
from  the  tortuous  windings  of  the  labyrinth  of  history. 
It  would  have  explained  to  them,  among  other  things, 
why  it  is  that  in  all  the  great  emergencies  of  the  church, 
God  has  raised  up,  as  instruments  to  do  his  high  behests, 
men  and  institutions  just  such  as  the  exigency  of  the 
times  demanded.  Thus,  for  instance,  the  Franciscans 
and  Dominicans  (why  did  Mr.  Hallam  omit  the  latter  ?) 
in  the  thirteenth  century,  and  the  Jesuits  and  St.  Charles 
Borromeo,  to  pass  over  many  more  illustrious  names,  in 
the  sixteenth,  St.  Athanasius  in  the  fourth  century,  St. 
Cyril,  St.  Leo,  St.  Chrysostom,  and  St.  Augustine  in  the 
fifth,  St.  Gregory  the  Great  in  the  end  of  the  sixth,  St. 
Gregory  VII  in  the  eleventh,  St.  Bernard  in  the  twelfth, 
St.  Thomas  Aquinas  in  the  thirteenth,  and  many  others 
in  various  other  ages,  all  are  examples  of  this  providence 
of  God  watching  over  the  safety  of  his  church,  •*  the  pil- 
lar and  ground  of  the  truth. "t 

The  reaction  in  favor  of  the  Catholic  church  continued 
with  redoubled  force  in  the  seventeenth  century.  **  The 
progress  of  the  latter  church"  (the  Catholic),  s^ys  Mr. 
Hallam,  •'  for  the  first  thirty  years  of  the  present  (seven- 
teenth) century,  was  as  striking  and  uninterrupted  as  it 
had  been  in  the  final  period  of  the  sixteenth.  Victory 
crowned  its  banners  on  every  side.  .  .  ,  The  nobility, 
both  in  France  and  Germany,  who   in  the  last  age  had 

*  St.  Matth.  xvi,  18.  t  1  Timoth.iii,  15. 


154  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed.. 

been  the  first  to  embrace  a  new  faith,  became  afterwards 
the  first  to  desert  it.  Many  also  of  the  learned  and  able 
Protestants  gave  evidence  of  the  jeopardy  of  that  cause 
by  their  conversion.  It  is  not  just,  however,  to  infer  that 
they  were  merely  influenced  by  this  apprehension.  Two 
other  causes  mainly  operated  :  one,  to  which  we  have 
already  alluded,  the  authority  given  to  the  traditions  of 
the  church,  recorded  by  the  writers  called  fathers,  and 
with  which  it  was  found  difficult  to  reconcile  all  the  Pro- 
testant creed  {any  of  it);  another,  the  intolerance  of  the 
reformed  churches,  both  Lutheran  and  Calvinistic,  which 
gave  as  little  latitude  [less)  as  that  which  they  had  quit- 
,  ted."* 

"  The  defections,"  he  continues,  "  from  whatever  cause, 
are  numerous  in  the  seventeenth  century.  But  two,  more 
eminent  than  any  who  actually  renounced  the  Protestant 
religion,  must  be  owned  to  have  given  evident  signs  of 
wavering,  Casaubon  and  Grotius.  The  proofs  of  this  are 
not  founded  merely  on  anecdotes  which  might  be  dis- 
puted, but  on  their  own  language.!  Casaubon  was  stag- 
gered by  the  study  of  the  fathers,  in  which  (whom)  he 
discovered  many  things,  especially  as  to  the  eucharist, 
which  he  could  not  in  any  manner  reconcile  with  the  te- 
nets of  the  French  Huguenots.  Perron  used  to  assail  him 
with  arguments  he  could  not  parry.  If  we  may  believe 
this  cardinal,  he  was  on  the  point  of  declaring  publicly 
his  conversion,  before  he  accepted  the  invitation  of  James  I 
to  England  :  and  even  while  in  England,  he  promoted  the 
Catholic  cause  more  than  the  world  was  aware."  After 
a  feeble  endeavor  to  impair  the  validity  of  this  statement 
of  Perron,  he  adds  :  *'  Yet  if  Casaubon,  as  he  had  much 
inclination  to  do,  being  on  ill  terms  with  some  in  Eng- 

*  Vol.  ii,  p.  30,  §  11. 

t  In  a  very  lengthy  and  learned  note,  he  here  accumulates  evidence 
from  the  writings  and  correspondence  of  Casaubon,  in  support  of  the 
statement  made  in  the  text.  He  also  speaks  at  length  of  the  labors  of 
the  learned  Cardinal  Perron. 


CATHOLIC  reaction;  the  reform  declines.       J 55 

land,  and  disliking  the  country,  had  returned  to  France, 
it  seems  probable  that  he  would  not  long  have  continued 
in  what,  according  to  the  principles  he  had  adopted,  would 
appear  a  schismatical  communion."* 

**  Grotius,"  he  says,  "  was,  from  the  time  of  his  turn- 
ing his  attention  to  theology,  almost  as  much  influenced 
as  Casaubon  by  primitive  authority,  and  began,  even  in 
1614,  to  commend  the  Anglican  church  for  the  respect  it 
showed,  very  unlike  the  rest  of  the  reformed,  to  that 
standard.!  But  the  ill  usage  he  sustained  at  the  hands  of 
those  who  boasted  their  independence  of  papal  tyran- 
ny (!);  the  caresses  of  the  Galilean  clergy  after  he  had 
fixed  his  residence  at  Paris  ;X  the  growing  dissensions  and 
virulence  of  the  Protestants;  the  choice  that  seemed 
alone  to  be  left  in  their  communion  between  a  fanatical 
anarchy,  disintegrating  every  thing  like  a  church  on  the 
one  hand,  and  a  domination  of  bigoted  and  vulgar  eccle- 
siastics on  the  other;  made  him  gradually  less  and  less 
averse  to  the  comprehensive  and  majestic  unity  of  the 
Catholic  hierarchy,  and  more  and  more  willing  to  concede 
some  point  of  uncertain  doctrine,  or  some  form  of  ambig- 
uous expression.  This  is  abundantly  perceived,  and  has 
been  often  pointed  out,  in  his  Annotations  on  the  Consult- 

»  Ibid. 

t  Truly,  as  the  wisest  of  men  has  said,  there  is  nothing  new  under 
the  sun.  Grotius,  Casaubon,  and  many  other  learned  Protestants,  more 
than  two  hundred  years  ago,  seem  to  have  taken  the  identical  ground 
now  occupied  by  the  Puseyites  in  England.  This  will  appear  from  a 
perusal  of  the  copious  notes  of  Hallam  on  their  writihgs.  (Ibid.) 
Speaking  of  the  effort  of  Grotius  to  extract  from  the  council  of  Trent 
a  meaning  favorable  to  his  own  semi-catholic  views,  he  says :  "  hig 
aim  was  to  search  for  subtle  interpretations,  by  which  he  might  pro- 
fess to  believe  the  words  of  the  church,  though  conscious  that  his  sense 
was  not  that  of  the  imposers.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  this  is  not  very 
ingenuous,"  &cc.  Perhaps  the  history  of  Grotius  and  Casaubon  may 
serve  to  throw  some  additional  light  on  the  end  and  aim  of  the  Pusey- 
te  controversy. 

1  It  is  remarkable  that  Grotius,  persecuted  by  brother  Protestants  in 
Holland,  found  a  peaceful  shelter  from  the  storm  in  Catholic  France ! 


156  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

ation  of  Cassander,  written  in  1641 ;  in  his  Animadver- 
sions on  Rivet,  who  had  censured  the  former  treatise  as 
inclining  to  poperv  ;  in  the  Votum  pro  Pace  Ecclesiastica, 
and  in  the  Rivetiani  Apologetici  Discussio  ;  all  which  are 
collected  in  the  fourth  volume  of  the  theological  works  of 
Grotius.  These  treatises  display  a  uniform  and  progress- 
ive tendency  to  defend  the  church  of  Rome  in  every  thing 
that  can  be  reckoned  essential  to  her  creed  ;  and  in  fact 
he  will  be  found  to  go  farther  in  this  direction  than  Cas- 
sander."* 

But,  alas !  neither  Casaubon  nor  Grotius  ever  pene- 
trated beyond  the  threshold  of  the  temple  of  Catholi- 
city. Though  they  seem  to  have  had  light  enough  to 
know  and  to  love  the  truth,  yet  were  they  not  worthy  of 
the  gift  of  faith,  which  is  granted  to  those  only  who  become 
**  as  little  children"  for  Christ's  sake.  We  have  already 
seen  by  what  circumstances  the  former  was  prevented 
from  entering  the  Catholic  pale.  Of  the  latter  Hallam 
says  :  **  Upon  a  dispassionate  examination  of  all  these 
testimonies,  we  can  hardly  deem  it  an  uncertain  question 
whether  Grotius,"  if  his  life  had  been  prolonged,  would 
have  taken  the  easy  leap  which  still  remained;  and  there  is 
some  positive  evidence  of  his  design  to  do  so.  But,  dying 
on  a  journey,  and  in  a  Protestant  country,  this  avowed 
declaration   (in  favor  of  Catholicity)  was  never  made."t 

It  is  dangerous  to  tamper  with  the  proffered  grace  of 
heaven,  or  to  put  off  conversion !  The  learned  Lipsius 
went  farther;  he  was  faithful  to  grace,  and  *' took  the 
easy  {not  so  easy)  leap"  into  the  Catholic  church.  Mr. 
Hallam  tells  us  that  he  spent  the  latter  years  of  his  life 
"  in  defending  legendary  miracles,  and  in  waging  war 
against  the  honored  (!)  dead  of  the  reformation  !":j:    This 

*  Ibid.  p.  32 — 35,  §  13.  Cassander  was  a  Catholic  theologian,  who 
was  commissioned  by  the  emperor  Ferdinand  to  write  a  work  to  con- 
ciliate the  Protestant  party.  Many  think  that,  in  executing  this  task, 
he  had,  through  the  best  motives  no  doubt,  conceded  too  much.  He' 
died  in  1566,  aged  53  years.  t  Ibid.  p.  35,  §  16.        |  Ibid. 


CATHOLIC  reaction;  the  reform  declines.       157 

was  of  course  intended  as  an  evidence  of  his  Protestant 
orthodoxy,  and  as  a  douceur  to  English  bigotry.  This 
unworthy  virulence,  however,  but  enhances  the  more  the 
value  of  his  previous  admissions  in  favor  of  Catholicity, 
which  could  have  been  wrung  from  him  only  by  the  stern- 
est evidence  of  facts.  Justus  Lipsius  was  a  prodigy  of 
classical  learning  and  erudition.  He  became  a  most  ex- 
emplary Catholic,  and  died  at  liOuvain  in  1606. 

We  have  now  completed  our  rapid  analysis  of  the  facts 
connected  with  the  decline  of  Protestantism  on  the  one 
hand,  and  the  reaction  of  Catholicity  on  the  other.  We 
have  shown,  on  unquestionable  Protestant  authority,  the 
existence  and  extent  of  both  these  parallel  developments. 
Every  candid  man  will  easily  draw  the  natural  inference 
from  these  facts:  that  Protestantism  was  a  human,  and 
Catholicity  a  divine  institution.  We  can  explain  the 
facts  on  no  other  principle.  To  attempt  to  explain  them 
on  the  principles  of  mere  human  philosophy  is  a  misera- 
ble fallacy.  If  Protestantism  was  true,  it  would  have 
conquered  and  endured  ;  if  Catholicity  was  false,  it  must 
have  fallen. 

We  will  close  our  remarks  on  this  subject  by  a  splen- 
did avowal  of  another  living  Protestant  writer  of  great 
eminence — Thomas  Babington  Macauley — whose  testi- 
mony, though  already  often  quoted,  is  too  apposite  to  the 
matter  in  hand  to  be  here  omitted.  The  passage  which 
we  will  quote  is  taken  from  an  article  in  the  Edinburg 
Review  on  Ranke's  History  of  the  Papacy,  another  cir- 
cumstance which  entitles  it  to  a  place  in  this  chapter. 

*'  There  is  not,  and  there  never  was,  on  this  earth,  a 
work  so  well  deserving;  of  examination  as  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church.  The  history  of  that  church  joins  to- 
gether the  two  great  ages  of  human  civilization.  No 
other  institution  is  left  standing  which  carries  the  mind 
back  to  the  times  when  the  smoke  of  sacrifice  rose  from 
th'^  Pantheon  ;  and  when  cameleopards  and  tigers  bounded 
in  the  Flavian  amphitheatre.  The  proudest  royal  houses 
14 


158  D  attbigne's  history  reviewed. 

are  but  of  yesterday,  when  compared  with  the  line  of  the 
Roman  pontiffs.  This  line  we  trace  back,  in  an  unbroken 
series,  from  the  pope  who  crowned  Napoleon  in  the  nine- 
teenth century,  to  the  pope  who  crowned  Pepin  in  the 
eighth;  and  far  beyond  the  time  of  Pepin,  the  august 
dynasty  extends  until  its  origin  is  lost  in  the  twilight  of 
fable  !  {Was  the  apostolic  age  "  the  twilight  of  fahle?''^) 
The  republic  of  Venice  came  next  in  antiquity.  But  the 
republic  of  Venice  was  modern  when  compared  with  the 
papacy;  and  the  republic  of  Venice  is  gone,  and  the 
papacy  remains.  The  papacy  remains,  not  in  decay,  nor 
a  mere  antique,  but  full  of  life  and  youthful  vigor.  The 
Catholic  church  is  still  sending  forth,  to  the  furthest  ends 
of  the  world,  missionaries  as  zealous  as  those  who  landed 
in  Kent  with  Augustine,  and  still  confronting  hostile 
kings  with  the  same  spirit  with  which  she  confronted  At- 
tila.  The  number  of  her  children  is  greater  than  in  any 
former  age.  Her  acquisitions  in  the  new  world  have 
more  than  compensated  her  for  what  she  has  lost  in  the 
old.  Her  spiritual  ascendency  extends  over  the  vast 
countries  which  He  between  the  plains  of  the  Missouri 
and  Cape  Horn,  countries  which,  a  century  hence,  may 
not  improbably  contain  a  population  as  large  as  that  which 
now  inhabits  Europe.  The  members  of  her  communion 
are  certainly  not  fewer  than  a  hundred  and  fifty  millions,* 
and  it  will  be  difficult  to  show  that  all  the  other  Chris- 
tian sects  united  amount  to  one  hundred  and  twenty  mill- 
ions.f 

•  The  number  of  Catholics  in  the  world  has  been  variously  stated. 
An  official  statistical  account,  lately  published  in  Rome,  makes  the 
number  160,842,424.  Malte  Brun  estimates  it  at  above  164,000,000  ; 
and  others  have  stated  it  at  180  or  even  200,000,000.  The  Roman  state- 
ment is  perhaps  the  most  to  be  relied  on.  It  does  not  at  least  exceed  ; 
it  may  even  fall  below  the  mark,  in  consequence  of  the  probable  in- 
completeness of  the  returns. 

f  This  embraces  the  Greek  and  oriental  churches,  and  is  still  doubt- 
less  excessive.  The  total  number  of  Protestants,  including  free-think^ 
era,  &,c.,  19  not  probably  over  30,000,000. 


CATHOLIC  reaction;  the  reform  declines.       159 

Nor  do  we  see  any  sign  which  indicates  that  the  term 
of  her  long  dominion  is  approaching.  She  saw  the  com- 
mencement of  all  the  governments,  and  of  all  the  eccle- 
siastical establishments  that  now  exist  in  the  world;  and 
we  feel  no  assurance  that  she  is  not  destined  to  see  the 
end  of  them  all.  She  was  great  and  respected  before  the 
Saxon  set  foot  on  Briton — before  the  Frank  had  passed 
the  Rhine — when  Grecian  eloquence  still  flourished  at 
Antioch — when  idols  were  still  worshipped  in  the  Temple 
of  Mecca.  And  she  may  still  exist  in  undiminished 
vigor,  when  some  traveller  from  New  Zealand  shall,  in 
the  midst  of  a  vast  solitude,  take  his  stand  on  a  broken 
arch  of  Londoii  bridge  to  sketch  the  ruins  of  St.  Paul's  !" 

Truly  splendid  testimony  to  the  vitality  of  the  Catholic 
church,  coming,  as  it  does,  from  the  pen  of  a  sworn 
enemy — of  a  Scotchman  and  a  Presbyterian  !  Speaking 
of  the  trite  remark  that,  as  the  world  becomes  more  en- 
lightened, it  will  renounce  Catholicity  and  embrace  Pro- 
testantism, he  says :  **Yet  we  see  that,  during  these  250 
years  Protestantism  has  made  no  conquests  worth  speak- 
ing of.  Nay,  we  believe,  that  as  far  as  there  has  been  a 
change,  that  change  has  been  in  favor  of  the  church  of 
Rome.  We  cannot  therefore  feel  confident  that  the  pro- 
gress of  knowledge  will  necessarily  be  fatal  to  a  system, 
which  has,  to  say  the  least,  stood  its  ground  in  spite  of 
the  immense  progress  which  knowledge  has  made  since 
the  days  of  Queen  Elizabeth."  He  a  little  after  adds: 
**four  times  since  the  authority  of  the  church  of  Rome 
was  established  in  western  Christendom,  has  the  human 
intellect  risen  up  against  her.  Twice  she  remained  com- 
pletely victorious.  Twice  she  came  forth  from  the  con- 
flict bearing  the  marks  of  cruel  wounds,  but  with  the 
principle  of  life  still  strong  within  her.  When  we  reflect 
on  the  tremendous  assaults  which  she  has  survived,  we 
find  it  difiicult  to  conceive  in  what  way  she  is  to  perish  !" 

Yes — it  must  be  avowed  :  the  Catholic  church  is  inde- 
structible, and  therefore  divine  !  You  might  as  well  try  to 


160  D'aUBIGXe's    IIISTORV    REVIEVv'ED. 

blot  out  the  sun  from  the  heavens,  as  to  extinguish  the 
bright  light  of  the  Catholic  church  on  earth  !  Clouds  may 
hide  for  a  time  the  sun's  disc  from  the  eye  of  the  behold- 
er— but  the  sun  is  still  there,  the  same  as  when  he  shone 
with  his  most  brilliant  light  upon  us:  so  also,  the  clouds 
of  persecution  and  prejudice  may  cover  for  a  time  the 
fair  face  of  the  church — but  the  eye  of  faith  penetrates 
those  dark  clouds,  and  assures  us,  that  though  partially 
concealed,  she  is  still  there  !  And  when  those  clouds 
clear  away,  she  again  shines  out  with  a  more  brilliant  and 
a  more  cheering  light  than  ever!  He  who  said  :  "  heaven 
and  earth  may  pass  away,  but  my  words  shall  not  pass 
away,"  has  also  pronounced  that  "  the  gates  of  hell  shall 
not  prevail  against  her." 

Perhaps  the  most  remarkable  feature  in  modern  society, 
is  the  general  and  manifest  reaction  of  Catholicity  through- 
out the  world,  and  especially  in  Protestant  countries. 
There  seems  to  be  a  universal  gravitation  of  all  spirits 
towards  Rome  !*  Germany,  the  first  theatre  of  the  refor- 
mation, led  the  way  in  this  awakening.  Besides  the 
works  of  Voight,  Hurter  and  Ranke,  which  are  well 
known,  there  are  also:  the  "Universal  History"  and  the 
**  Journeys  of  the  Popes,"  by  the  great  Protestant  histo- 
rian John  Miiller — the  "  History  of  the  Princes  of  the 
house  of  Hohenstaufen,"  by  the  famous  Raumur — the 
**  History  of  the  Church,"  and  "the  History  of  Italy," 
by  M.  Leo — not  to  mention  a  host  of  other  wor^s  by 
eminent  German  Protestant  writers  of  the  day — all  of 
which  evidence,  by  their  spirit  and  their  justice  to  the 
popes  and  to  the  old  religion,  this  wonderful  resuscita- 
tion of  Catholic  feeling  in  Protestant  Germany.  Eng- 
land, Scotland,  and  the  United  States  even,  have  partici- 
pated in  this  movement.  We  trust  that  De  Maistre's  pro- 
phetic remark— that  when  sectarianism  should  have  run 

*  See  the  "  Introduction  to  Ranke's  Papaut^"  by  M.  Alexandre  de 
Saint  Cheron,  page  xv,  seqq. 


CATHOLIC  reaction;  the  reform  declines.      161 

through  the  whole  circle  of  error,  it  would  return  again  to 
the  great  Catholic  centre  of  truth — is  on  the  eve  of  its 
fulfilment ! 

What  we  will  now  proceed  to  prove  in  relation  to  the 
manifold  influences  of  tiie  reformation,  will  throw  addi- 
tional light  upon  the  matter  we  have  treated  in  this  chap- 
ter; and  may  serve  also  greatly  to  explain  why  it  was 
that,  after  a  brief  storm  of  excitement,  Catholicity  reacted 
and  Protestantism  declined. 


14* 


fart  III. 

INFLUENCE 

OF  THE 

REFORMATION   ON   RELIGION. 
CHAPTER    VII. 


INFLUENCE    OF    THE    REFORMATION    ON   DOCTRINAL    BELIEF. 

**  Who  would  ever  have  believed  that  the  reformation  from  the  beginning  would 
have  attacked  morality,  dogma,  and  faith ;  or  that  the  seditious  genius  of  a  monk 
could  have  caused  so  much  disturbance  ?"    Erasm.  {Epist  Georgia  Dud). 

"  As  long  as  words  a  different  sense  will  bear, 
And  each  maybe  his  own  interpreter, 
Our  airy  faith  will  no  foundation  find, 
The  word's  a  weathercock  for  every  wind."— Drtden. 

The  nature  of  religion — A  golden  chain — Question  stated — Private 
judgment — Church  authority — As  many  religions  as  heads  —  M. 
D'Aubigne's  theory — Its  poetic  beauty — Fever  of  logomachy — "  Sons 
of  liberty" — The  Eible  dissected — A  hydra-headed  monster — Eras- 
mus— Curing  a  lame  horse — Luther  puzzled — His  plaint — His  incon- 
sistency— Missions  and  miracles — Zuingle's  inconsistency — Strange 
fanaticism — Storck,  Mlinger,  Karlstadt,  and  John  of  Leyden — A  new 
deluge — Retorting  the  argument — Discussion  at  the  "Black  Boar" — 
Luther  and  the  cobbler — Discussion  at  Marburg — Luther's  avowal — 
Breaking  necks — Melancthon's  lament — The  inference — Protestant- 
ism the  mother  of  infidelity — Picture  of  modern  Protestantism  in 
Germany  by  Schlegel. 

Religion  is  a  divinely  established  system,  which  came 
down  from  heaven  to  conduct  man  thither.  By  the  diso- 
bedience of  Adam,  man,  originally  created  upright,  fell 
from  grace,  and  was,  as  it  were,  loosed  from  heaven  to 
which  he  had  been   previously  bound  by  the  most  sacred 


EFFECTS  OF  THE  REFORM  ON  RELIGIOX.        163 

ties  of  fellowship.  Religion  is  a  golden  chain  reaching 
down  from  heaven  to  earth,  which,  according  to  the  ety- 
mological import  of  the  term,  hiyids  man  again  to  heaven. 
And  to  pursue  the  illustration  a  little  farther,  as  the  loss 
of  even  one  link  would  destroy  the  integrity  of  a  chain, 
and  would  render  it  useless  as  a  means  of  binding  together 
distant  objects ;  so  also,  the  removal  of  one  link  from  the 
chain  of  religion,  would  destroy  its  integrity  and  mar  its 
lofty  purpose.  These  links  are  united  together  in  three 
divisions,  comprising  severally  the  doctrines  revealed  by 
and  through  Jesus  Christ;  the  moral  precepts  which  he 
gave;  and  the  sacraments  and  sacrifice  which  he  instituted. 
All  these  are  as  essentially  and  as  intimately  connected 
together,  as  are  the  parts  of  a  chain.  "  He  that  oflfendeth 
in  one,  is  guilty  of  all  :*'*  because  he  rebels  against  the 
authority  from  which  the  whole  emanates. 

Religion  then  consists  of  three  parts :  doctrines  to  be 
believed,  commandments  to  be  observed,  and  sacramental 
and  sacrificial  ordinances  to  be  received  and  complied 
with.  The  third  department  partakes  of  the  nature  of  the 
other  two:  being  partly  doctrinal  and  partly  moral.  In 
other  words,  the  Christian  religion  embraces,  as  essential 
to  its  very  nature  and  divine  purposes,  doctrines,  morals, 
and  worship:  and  we  propose  briefly  to  examine  the  influ- 
ence of  the  pretended  reformation  on  each  of  these  sepa- 
rately. Was  this  influence  beneficial  .^  Did  it  really  re- 
form religion,  as  it  purported  to  do  ?  M.  D'Aubigne  tells 
us :  that  "  the  reform  saved  religion,  and  with  it  society."! 
We  shall  see  hereafter  what  it  did  for  society;  and  we 
will  now  inquire  whether  it  **  saved  religion  ?" 

And  first,  what  was  its  influence  on  the  doctrines  of 
Christianity  ?  Did  it  teach  them  in  greater  purity,  and 
integrity,  or  with  greater  certainty,  than  the  Catholic 
church  had  done  ?  Did  it  shed  on  them  a  clearer  or  more 
steady  light?    Or  did  it,  on  the  contrary,  give  out  a  very 

*  St.  James  ii,  10.  t  "^"olr  ».  P-  67. 


Ib4  d^'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

doubtful  and  uncertain  light ;  leaving  the  minds  of  men  in 
perplexity  as  to  the  doctrines  to  be  believed  ;  and  per- 
mitting its  disciples  "  to  be  tossed  to  and  fro  bj  every 
wind  of  doctrine,'^*  on  the  stormy  sea  of  conflicting  hu- 
man opinions  ?  We  shall  see.  It  will  not,  however,  be 
necessary  to  our  inquiry,  to  examine  the  grounds  which 
establish  the  truth  of  the  various  Catholic,  or  the  falsity 
of  the  Protestant  doctrines  in  controversy:  all  that  will 
be  requisite  for  our  purpose,  will  be  an  investigation  of  ihe 
facts  bearing  on  the  question. 

The  great  distinctive  feature  of  the  reformation,  was  its 
rejection  of  church  authority,  and  its  assertion  of  the  prin- 
ciple of  private  judgment  in  matters  of  religion.  This  is 
the  key  of  that  new  system  :  this  the  proudest  boast  of 
those  who  aiTected  to  bring  about  the '*  emancipation  of 
the  human  mind."  This  is  the  cardinal  principle  of 
**  Christian  liberty,"  as  asserted  by  Martin  Luther,  in  a 
special  work  on  the  subject :  this  the  means  of  being  res- 
cued from  the  degrading  "  captivity  of  Babylon. "t  The 
Catholic  religion  had  taught  that,  in  matters  of  contro- 
"versy.  Christians  were  bound  by  the  solemn  command  of 
Christ,  "to  hear  the  church. "±  Church  authority  was 
the  uJtima  ratio  of  controversy,  the  great  means  of  attain- 
ing to  certainty  in  what  we  are  to  believe  and  to  reject — 
the  bond  of  union  among  Christians.  Not  that  the  church 
meant  to  decide  on  every  controverted  point:  she  only 
decided  where  she  found  sufficient  warrant  in  revelation 
to  guide  her  with  certainty.  In  other  matters — and  they 
were  numerous — she  wisely  abstained  from  any  definition, 
and  allowed  her  children  a  reasonable  latitude  of  opinion, 
provided  however  they  did  not  either  directly  or  indirectly 
infringe  on  the  principles  of  faith.  This  was  hallowed 
ftnd  consecrated  ground,  Vi'hich  was  not  to  be  trodden  by 

*  Ephes.  iv,  14. 
f  See  the  two  works  of  Luther    "  De   Christiana  Libertate,"  an(i 
<«  De  Captivitate  Babylonica 
X  Matth.  xviii,  17. 


EFFECTS  OF  THE  REFORM  ON  RELIGION,  165 

the  rude  foot  of  controversy.  She  said  to  the  stormy 
billows  of  human  opinion  :  "  thus  far  shall  you  come,  and 
no  farther:  and  here  shall  you  break  your  boiling 
waves!"* 

When  the  reformers  cast  off  this  yoke  of  church  au- 
thority, and  said  "they  would  not  serve"  any  longer, 
they  had  no  alternative  left,  but  to  decide,  each  one  for 
himself,  what  was  the  doctrine  of  Christ.  Private  judg- 
ment was  thus  substituted  for  the  teaching  of  the  church : 
human  opinion  for  faith.  As  men  were  diflferently  con- 
stituted, they  naturally  took  different  views  of  the  reli- 
gion of  Christ.  Each  one  struck  out  a  new  system  for 
himself:  and  soon,  instead  of  the  one  religion  which  had 
been  received  with  reverence  for  ages,  the  world  beheld 
the  novel  spectacle  of  almost  as  many  religions  as  there 
were  heads  among  the  Protestant  party  ! 

M.  D'Aubigne's  theory  on  this  subject  is  as  curious  as  it 
is  liberal^  in  the  modern  sense  of  this  term.  He  thus  dis- 
courses on  the  diversities  of  the  reformation:  "We  are 
about  to  contemplate  the  diversities,  or,  as  they  have  been 
since  called,  the  variations  of  the  reformation.  These 
diversities  are  among  its  most  essential  characters.  Uni- 
ty in  diversity,  and  diversity  in  unity,  is  a  law  of  nature, 
and  also  of  the  church.  Truth  may  be  compared  to  the 
light  of  the  sun.  The  light  comes  from  heaven  colorless, 
and  ever  the  same  :  and  yet  it  takes  different  hues  on 
earth,  varying  according  to  the  objects  on  which  it  falls. 
Thus  different  formularies  may  sometimes  express  the 
same  Christian  truth,  viewed  under  different  aspects. 
How  dull  would  be  this  visible  creation,  if  all  its  bound- 
less variety  of  shape  and  color  were  to  give  place  to  an 
unbroken  uniformity  !"t 

*  Job  xxxviii,  12.  "  Hue  usque  venies  et  non  amplius  ;  et  hie  con- 
fringes  tumentes  fluctus  tuos." 

t  Vol.  iii,  p.  285,  in  the  introduction  to  the  eleventh  book,  in  which 
he  treats  of  the  controversies  between  the  partisans  of  Zuingle  and 
Luther. 


l66  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

A  beautiful  theory  truly,  and  aptly  illustrated  !  So, 
then,  "the  diffeteiU  formularies"  of  Luther,  openly  as- 
serting the  real  presence  of  Christ  in  the  sacrament,  and 
of  Zuingle  flatly  denying  this  presence,  "both  express 
the  same  Christian  truth  viewed  under  different  aspects!" 
These  great  champions  of  Protestantism,  as  we  have  seen-, 
mutually  anathematized  and  denounced  each  other  as 
children  of  Satan,  on  this  very  ground,  and  yet,  in  sooth, 
they  maintained  "  the  same  Christian  truth  under  differ- 
ent aspects!"  They  plainly  contradicted  each  other  on 
many  other  important  points,  and  the  Wittemberg  doctor 
would  consent  to  hold  no  communion  with  him  of  Zu- 
rich ;*  and  yet  they  maintained  "the  same  Christian 
truth  !"  Luther  said  to  Zuingle,  who  proposed  mutual 
communion,  at  the  close  of  the  famous  conference  of 
Marburg,  in  1528,  "  No,  no:  cursed  be  the  alliance  which 
endangers  the  truth  of  God  and  the  salvation  of  souls. 
Away  v/ith  you  :  you  are  possessed  by  a  different  spirit 
from  ours.  But  take  caret  before  three  years  the  anger 
of  God  will  fall  on  you  !"t  And  yet  M.  D'Aubigne 
would  have  us  believe  that  they  agreed  as  to  the  sub- 
stance of  "Christian  truth!"  Verily,  he  must  think 
others  as  credulous  as  he  himself  seewi^  to  be! 

And  then,  the  charming  illustration  from  the  light  of  the 
sun  !  It  is  almost  a  pity  to  spoil  its  poetical  beauty  ;  though 
even  a  poet  would  lay  himself  open  to  the  severest  criti- 
cism, were  bis  figures  no  more  appropriate  or  true  to  na- 
ture. M.  D'Aubigne  has  taken  more  than  even  a  poetic 
license.  Does  the  light  of  the  sun,  no  matter  how  diversi- 
fied, reflect  contradictory  images  "  of  the  objects  on  which 
it  falls?"  Is  it  so  very  uncertain,  as  to  leave  us  in  doubt, 
as  to  the  shape  and  color  of  external  objects  ?  Does  it  make 
us  the  dupes  of  constant  optical  illusions  ?  The  light  which 

*  In  the  conference  of  Marburg.  Cl".  Autlin,  "  Life  of  Luther,"  p. 
415,  416. 

t  Audin,  ibid.    See  also  Luther's  Ep.  ad  Jacobum,  praep.  Bremens. 


EFFECTS  OF  THE  REFORM  ON  RELIGION.       167 

the  reformers  professed  to  borrow  from  heaven  did  all 
this.  And  then,  does  it  fall  much  short  of  blasphemy  to 
maintain  that  God  is  indifferent  as  to  wliether  we  believe 
truth  or  error  ;  and  that  he  delights  in  such  a  "diversity" 
of  opinions  as  runs  into  open  contradictions  ?  And  this  too, 
when  "  his  well  beloved  Son"  came  on  earth  "  to  bear  tes- 
timony to  the  truth,"  and  laid  down  his  life  to  seal  it  with 
his  blood  !  And  when  he  also  pronounced  the  declaration  : 
**  he  that  believeth  not  shall  be  condemned  ;"*  which  de- 
claration referred  to  the  necessity  of  belief  '*  in  all  things 
whatsoever  he  had  commanded  !''t 

The  doctrine  of  private  judgment  broached  by  the  re- 
formers, led  to  endless  inconsistencies  and  contradictions. 
It  was  the  prolific  parent  of  sects  almost  innumerable. 
More  than  fiftyl  of  these  arose  before  the  death  of  Luther  ! 
It  was  natural  that  it  shoukl  be  so:  "these  diversities 
were  among  the  most  essential  fea<ures  of  the  reforma- 
tion."§  The  tree  was  only  bearing  its  natural  fruits; 
and  the  latter,  according  to  the  divine  standard,  are  the 
best  criterion  whereby  to  judge  of  the  former  :  ♦•  by  their 
fruits  ye  shall  know  them."  "The  reformation,  which 
promised  to  put  an  end  to  the  reign  of  disputatious  theol- 
ogy, had,  on  the  contrary,  awakened  in  all  minds  a  fond- 
ness for  dispute,  bordering  on  fanaticism  :  it  was  the  fever 
of  logomachy,  Haifa  century  before,  men  indeed  dis- 
puted ;  but  then  the  doctrine  of  the  church  was  not  called 
into  question  :  now  however  it  was  attacked  on  all  sides. 
In  each  university,  and  even  in  every  private  house,  Ger- 
many saw  a  pulpit  erected  for  whoever  pretended  to  have 
received  the  understanding  of  the  divine  word. "||  This  fever 
has  continued  to  rage  in  the  bosom  of  Protestantism  even 
to  the  present  day:  it  has  not  abated  in  the  progress  of 
ages.    True,  in  Germany,  and  on  the  continent  of  Europe, 

*  St.  Mark,  xvi,  16.    f  The  parallel  passage  in  St.  Matth.  xxviii,  20. 
\  See  Audin,  p.  331.  §  D'Aubign6  ut supra. 

II  Audin,  ibid.  p.  190, 191. 


168  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

it  has  cooled  down  into  a  state  of  mortal  apathy,  a  more 
dangerous  symptom  far  than  the  malady  which  it  has  super- 
seded :  but  elsewhere,  it  has  left  the  patient  in  the  same 
restless  condition,  as  erewhile. 

Most  of  the  reformers  found  in  the  Bible,  that  a  priest 
who  had  made  a  solemn  vow  of  celibacy  to  God,  might 
and  even  ought  to  break  it,  by  taking  a  wife.  The  first 
who  made  this  consoling  discovery,  were  Bernard  of  Fel- 
kirk,  abbot  of  Remberg,  and  the  aged  Karlstadt,  arch- 
deacon of  Wittemberg.  Their  discovery  was  hailed  with 
delight  by  the  lovers  of  "  Christian  liberty"  throughout 
Germany.  Some  went  still  farther,  and  maintained,  Bible 
in  hand,  with  Bucer,  Capito,  Karlstadt  and  other  evange- 
lists, that  marriage  was  not  indissoluble;  and  that  a 
Christian  could  dismiss  his  wife,  or  even  retain  her,  and 
take  one  or  more  others  at  the  same  time,  after  the  exam- 
ple of  the  ancient  patriarchs.  These  styled  themselves 
"  the  sons  of  liberty" — they  should  have  said  lihertinism. 

We  shall  see,  a  little  later,  to  what  frightful  conse- 
quences these  doctrines  led  !  '*  All  the  hallucinations  of 
a  disordered  intellect  were  for  a  time  ascribed  to  the  Holy 
Ghost.  Never  had  the  divine  wisdom  communicated  itself 
more  liberally  to  the  human  mind  !  The  Bible  was  laid 
open  as  an  anatomical  subject  on  an  operator's  table,  and 
every  doctor  came  with  his  lance  in  hand — as  afterwards 
did  Dumoulin — to  anatomize  the  word  of  God,  and  to  seek 
the  spirit,  which  before  Luther  had  escaped  the  eye  of 
Catholicism.  It  was  an  epoch  of  glosses  and  commenta- 
ries, which  time  has  not  had  the  trouble  of  destroying, 
for  they  abounded  with  absurdity,  and  fell  beneath  the 
weight  of  ridicule  which  crushed  them  at  their  birth. 
There  were  new  lights,  who  came  to  announce  that  they 
had  discovered  an  irresistible  argument  against  the  mass, 
purgatory,  and  prayers  to  the  saints.  This  was  simply  to 
deny  the   immortality  of  the  soul."*     This  startling  im- 

*  Audin,  p.  192. 


EFFECTS    OF    THE    REFORM    ON    RliLIGlON.  169 

piety  was  really  maintained  in  full  school  at  Geneva,  by 
certain  "  new  lights,"  who  came  from  Wittemberg.* 

From  the  earliest  period  of  its  history,  **  the  hydra  of 
the  reformation  had  a  hundred  heads.  The  anabaptists 
believed  with  Mi^inzer,  that  without  a  second  baptism, 
man  could  not  be  saved.  The  Karlstadtians  preached  up 
polygamy.  The  Zuinglians  rejected  the  real  presence. 
Osiander  taught  that  God  had  predestined  only  the  elect. 
The  Majorists  taught  that  works  were  not  necessary  for 
salvation;  while  the  followers  of  Flaccus  accused  the 
Majorists  of  popery.  The  Synergists  preached  up  man's 
liberty.  The  Ubiquitarians  believed,  that  the  humanity 
of  Christ  was,  like  his  divinity,  omnipresent.  Some  held 
original  sin  to  be  the  nature,  the  substance,  the  essence  of 
man ;  while  others  regarded  it  as  a  mere  mode  of  his 
being.  All  these  sects  boasted  of  the  Bible,  as  a  suffi- 
cient rule  of  faith;  they  published  confessions,  composed 
creeds,  and  insisted  on  faith,  as  a  condition  of  communion. 
Children  of  the  same  father,  whom  they  had  severally  de- 
nied, they  cursed  and  proscribed  each  other :  they  gave 
the  name  of  heretic  to,  and  shut  the  gates  of  heaven  against, 
all  their  brethren  in  revolt,  who  happened  to  differ  from 
them."t  Other  fanatics  preached  up  the  community  of 
goods,  with  Stork  and  the  Anabaptists;  others,  with  the 
prophets  of  Alstell,  *'  the  demolition  of  images,  of  churches, 
of  chapels,  and  the  adoration  of  the  Lord  on  high  places  ;"J 
and  others,  the  inutility  of  the  law,  and  of  prayer.  The 
feverish  spirit  of  innovation  knew  no  rest;  every  day 
brought  forth  a  new  sect.  And  is  it  not  so,  even  in  our 
own  age  and  country  ? 

Erasmus  hit  off,  in  his  own  polished  and  caustic  style, 
the  extravagant  inconsistencies  of  the  Protestant  rule  of 

*  "  Quidquid  de  animariim  habetur  immortalitate,  ab  antichristo  ad 
statuendam  suam  culinara  excogitatvmi  est."  Prateolus — Elench.  voce 
Athei,  p.  72.     See  also  Bayle's  Dictionary,  art.  Luther. 

t  Audin,  p.  208,  209.     See  the  authorities  he  quotes,  ibid.  note. 

t  Idem.  p.  331. 
15 


170  ■  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

faith.  "They  say:  *  do  philosophy  and  learning  aid  us 
in  understanding  the  holy  books  ?'  I  reply :  *  will  igno- 
rance assist  you  r'  They  say  :  '  of  what  authority  are 
these  councils,  in  which  not  perhaps  a  single  member  re- 
ceived the  Holy  Ghost?'  1  ask  in  reply  :  '  is  not  the  gift 
of  God,  probably,  as  rare  in  your  conventicles?'  The 
apostles  would  not  have  been  believed,  had  they  not  proved 
the  -truth  of  their  doctrines  by  miracles.  Among  you 
every  individual  must  be  believed  on  his  own  word. 
When  the  apostles  lulled  the  serpents,  healed  the  infirm, 
and  raised  the  dead  to  life,  people  were  forced  to  believe 
in  them,  though  they  announced  incomprehensible  myste- 
ries. Among  these  doctors,  who  tell  us  so  many  wonder- 
ful things,  is  there  one  who  has  been  able  to  cure  a  lame 
horse?  ....  Give  me  miracles.  *  They  are  unnecessary  : 
there  have  been  enough  of  them :  the  bright  light  of  the 
Scriptures  is  not  so  very  clear,  since  I  see  so  many  men 
wander  in  the  dark.  Although  we  had  the  spirit  of  God, 
how  can  we  be  certain  that  we  have  the  knowledge  of  his 
word  ?  What  must  I  believe,  when  I  see,  in  the  midst  of 
contradictory  doctrines,  all  lay  claim  to  dogmatical  infal- 
libility, and  rise  up  with  oracular  authority  against  the 
doctrines  of  those  who  have  preceded  us  ?  Is  it  then  likely 
that  during  thirteen  centuries,  God  should  not  have  raised 
up,  among  the  many  holy  personages  he  has  given  to  his 
church,  a  single  one  to  whom  he  revealed  his  doctrine  ?"* 
Luther  was  often  saddened  by  the  defection  of  his  own 
disciples,  as  well  as  grievously  puzzled,  when  they  played 
off  on  him  the  same  arguments  which  he  had  used  against 
the  pope.  His  cherished  disciple  Mathesius  relates  the 
mental  anguish  he  endured,  wl-.en,  being  at  the  castle  of 
the  Wartberg  in  1521,  he  heard  of  the  revolt  and  strange' 
doings  of  Karlstadt  at  Wittembeig.  He  yielded  to  de- 
jection; he  seemed  to  himself  to  have  been  abandoned  by 
God   and  by  men:    "  his  head   grew  weary,  his  forehead 

*  •'  De  Libero  Arbihio."    Diatribe,  and  Menzel,  i,  140. 


EFFECTS  OF  THE  REFORM  ON  RELIGION.       171 

burned  with  the  excitement  of  his  mintl,  his  eye  grew 
dim — and  he  would  open  his  window"  to  inhale  the 
breezes  of  heaven,  to  cool  his  fevered  soul — then  he  would 
again  struggle  '*  to  forget  the  world  and  his  wrongs  !"* 
But  all  his  efforts  to  quiet  his  own  mind  proved  inef- 
fectual :  he  chafed  like  a  tiger  in  his  cage.  At  length  he 
resolved,  against  the  advice  of  his  friends,  to  leave  the 
Wartbnrg,  and  to  show  himself  in  the  midst  of  his  recreant 
disciples  at  Wittemberg.  He  harangued  them  for  full 
two  hours  on  the  wickedness  of  their  defection  from  his 
standard  ;  and  concluded  his  burning  invective  with  the 
following  memorable  sentence  :  *'  Yes,  if  the  devil  himself 
had  entreated  me" — to  remove  the  images  from  the  church 
by  violence — "  I  v/ould  have  turned  a  deaf  ear  to  him  !"t 

He  draws  a  graphic  sketch  of  his  own  perplexity  in  a  let- 
ter to  the  Christians  of  Antwerp,  written  in  1525.  We 
will  furnish  a  few  extracts.  "  The  devil  has  got  among  you  : 
he  daily  sends  me  visiters  to  knock  at  my  door.  One  will 
not  hear  of  baptism ;  another  rejects  the  sacrament  of  the 
eucharist ;  a  third  teaches  that  a  new  world  will  be  created 
by  God  before  the  day  of  judgment;  another,  that  Christ 
is  not  God :  in  short,  one  this,  another  that.  There  are 
almost  as  many  creeds  as  individuals.  There  is  no  booby, 
who,  when  he  dreams,  does  not  believe  himself  visited  by 
God,  and  who  does  not  claim  the  gift  of  prophecy.  I  am 
often  visited  by  these  men  who  claim  to  be  favored  by 
visions,  of  which  they  all  know  more  than  I  do,  and  which 
they  undertake  to  teach  me.  I  would  be  glad  they  were 
what  they  profess  to  be." 

"No  later  than  yesterday  one  came  to  me:  *sir,  I  am 
sent  by  God  who  created  heaven  and  earth;'  and  then  he 
began  to  preach  as  a  veritable  idiot,  that  it  was  the  order 
of  God  that  I  should  read  the  books  of  Moses  for  him. 

*  Ah  !    where  did  you  find  this  commandment  of  God?' 

*  In  the  Gospel  of  St.  John  ?'    After  he  had  spoken  much,  I 

*  alathesius.     In  Vita  Lutheri,  apnd  Audin,  p.  209, 
t  See  the  harxingue  in  Audin,  p.  237,  2>3S. 


172  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

said  to  him:  'friend,  come  back  to-morrow,  for  I  cannot 
read  for  you,  at  one  sitting,  the  books  of  Moses.'  *  Good- 
bye, master;  the  heavenly  Father,  who  shed  his  blood  for 
us,  will  show  us  the  right  way  through  his  son  Jesus. 
Amen!'  ....  While  the  papacy  lasted  there  were  7io  such 
divisions  or  dissensions :  the  strong  man  peaceably  ruled 
the  minds  of  men ;  but  now  one  stronger  is  come,  whoHias 
vanquished  and  put  him  to  flight,  and  the  former  one 
storms  and  wishes  not  to  depart.  A  spirit  of  confusion  is 
thus  among  you,  which  tempts  you,  and  seeks  to  withdraw 
you  from  the  true  path."  He  concludes  this  strange  epis- 
tle with  these  characteristic  words :  **  begone,  ye  cohort 
of  devils — marked  with  the  character  of  error:  God  is  a 
spirit  of  peace  and  not  of  dissension."* 

But  Luther  could  not  succeed  in  exorcising  the  demons, 
whom  his  own  principle  of  private  judgment  had  evoked 
from  the  abyss.  True,  he  occasionally  made  trial  of  the 
good  old  Catholic'  specifics  for  this  purpose;  but  they 
proved  powerless  in  his  bands.  Thus,  when  pressed  by 
the  Anabaptists,  to  prove  infant  baptism  from  the  Scrip- 
tures— his  only  rule  of  faith — he  had  recourse  to  the  good 
old  Catholic  argument  of  church  authority  founded  on  tra- 
dition* He  appealed  to  the  testimony  of  St.  Augustine 
and  to  the  teaching  of  the  church  during  his  day.  *'  But, 
it  is  objected,"  he  says,  "what  if  Augustine  and  those 
whom  you  call  and  believe  to  be  the  church,  erred  in  this 
particular  ?  But  this  objection  can  be  easily  impugned.  If 
you  do  not  admit  the  right,  (jus)  at  least  will  you  not  ad- 
mit the  fact  (factum)  of  this  having  been  the  belief  of  the 
church?  And  to  deny  that  this  was  the  faith  of  the  true 
and  lawful  church,  I  deem  most  impious. "t 

*  "  Ein  Briefe  D.  Martin  Luther  an  die  Christen  zu  Antorf."  Wit- 
temberg,  1525,  4to,     "Doct.  M.  Luther  Briefe,"  torn,  iii,  p.  60. 

t  "Objicitur  vero  :  quid  si  Augustinus,  et  quos  ecclesiam  vocas  vel 
esse  credis,  in  hac  parte  errarint?  ....  At  eadem  objectio  facile  im- 
pugnabitur.  Si  non  jus,  tamen  factum  proprie  credendi  inecclesia? 
Hanc  autem  confessionem  negare  esse  ecclesice  illius  verse  et  legitimae, 
arbitror  impiissimum  esse."    Epist.  Melancthoni,  13  January,  1522. 


EFFECTS    OF    THE    REFORM    ON    RELIGION'.  173 

Another  argument  he  eraplojed  to  refute  the  Anabap- 
tists, was  that  drawn  from  the  necessity  of  a  lawful  mission 
to  preach  the  Gospel,  and  of  miracles  to  confirm  it,  when 
it  was  not  derived  through  the  ordinary  channels  of  the 
church.  In  a  sermon  delivered  at  Wittemberg  against 
their ''prophets,"  in  1522,  he  used  this  language:  "Do 
you  wish  to  found  a  new  church  ?  Let  us  see :  who  has 
sent  you  ?  From  whom  have  you  received  your  mission  ? 
As  you  give  testimon^^'of  yourselves,  we  are  not  at  once 
to  believe  you,  but  according  to  the  advice  of  St.  John,  we 
must  try  you.  God  has  sent  no  one  into  this  world  who 
was  not  called  by  man,  or  announced  by  signs — not  even 
excepting  his  own  Son.  The  prophets  derived  their  title 
from  the  law,  and  from  the  prophetic  order,  as  we  do 
from  men.  I  do  not  care  for  you,  if  you  have  only  a  mere 
revelation  to  propose :  God  would  not  permit  Samuel  to 
speak,  except  by  the  authority  of  hell  (!).  When  the  law 
is  to  be  changed,  miracles  are  necessary.  Where  are 
your  miracles?  What  the  Jews  said  to  the  Lord,  we  now 
say  to  you  :  *  master,  we  v/ish  for  a  sign.'"* 

Luther  often  used  this  argument:!  and  yet,  it  might 
have  been  retorted  with  unanswerable  force  against  him- 
self. And  it  was  retorted  by  Stiibner  and  Cellarius,  two 
of  the  Anabaptist  prophets,  whom  he  had  attacked.  The 
answer  of  the  Saxon  reformer  is  not  recorded  :f  perhaps 
he  had  none  to  give.  According  to  Erasmus,  the  re- 
formers never  succeeded  even  "  in  curing  a  lame  horse  !" 
Luther  himself,  somewhat  later,  acknowledged,  that  he 
had  never  performed  any  miracles,  except  that  *'  he  had 
slapped  Satan  in  the  face,  and  struck  the  papacy  in  its 
core."§     Astonishing  miracles  truly  ! 

*  Apud  Audin,  p.  238. 

t  As  in  lib.  iii,  c.  iv.     "  Contra  Anabaptistas  ;"  and  elsewhere. 

X  In  his  letter  to  Spalatin,  in  which  he  relates  his  interview  with 
Stubner  and  Cellarius,  Luther  is  silent  on  this  retort.  Epist.  Spalatino, 
12  Ap.  1522.   Yet  the  Anabaptist  historians  relate  it.  Cf.  Audin,  p.  239. 

§  See  Audin,  p.  233,  note,  for  authority  for  this  feat. 
15* 


174  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

Luther  was  not  alone,  in  inconsistently  appealing  to 
aro-uments  which  condemned  himself  and  his  own  cause. 
Many  of  the  other  principal  reformers  were  driven  to  the 
same  straits.  In  order  to  refute  George  Blaurock,  an  Ana- 
baptist, enthusiast,  Zuingle  used  the  following  argument: 
"If  we  allow  every  enthusiast  or  sophist  to  diffuse  among 
the  people  all  the  foolish  fancies  of  his  heated  imagina- 
tion, to  assemble  together  disciples  and  make  a  sect,  we 
shall  see  the  church  of  Christ  splic  up  into  an  infinity  of 
factions,  and  lose  that  unity  which  she  has  maintained  at 
so  great  sacrifices.  It  is  necessary  then  to  consult  the 
church,  and  not  to  listen  to  passion  or  prejudice.  The 
interpretation  of  Scripture  is  not  the  right  of  individuals, 
but  of  the  church  :  she  has  the  keys,  and  the  power  of  un- 
locking the  treasures  of  the  divine  word."* 

Blaurock  was  not  satisfied,  as  might  have  been  expected, 
with  this  appeal  to  authority.  Bullingert  tells  us,  that  he 
answered  in  a  loud  voice  :  "  Did  not  you  Sacramentarians 
break  with  the  pope,  without  consulting  the  church  which 
you  abandoned — and  that  too,  a  church  which  was  not  of 
yesterday  ?  Is  it  not  lawful  for  us  to  abandon  your  church, 
which  is  but  a  few  days  old  ?  Cannot  we  do  what  you 
have  done  ?"     Zuingle  was  nonplussed. 

We  will  give  a  few  instances  of  the  strange  fanaticism 
to  which  this  same  principle  of  private  judgment  naturally 
led.  "We  might  fill  a  volume  with  such  examples  ;  but  our 
limits  will  permit  only  a  few.J  Hear  this  announcement 
of  Storck  in  one  of  his  sermons.  *' Behold,  what  I  an- 
nounce to  you.  God  has  sent  his  angel  to  me  during  the 
night,  to  tell  me  that  I  shall  sit  on  the  same  throne  as  the 
archangel  Gabriel.     Let  the  impious  tremble  and  the  just 

hope It  is  to  me,  Storck,  that  heaven  has  promised 

the  empire  of  the  world.     Would  you  desire  to  be  visited 

*  Zuinglius.     "  De  Baptismo,"  p,  72. 
t  "  In  Apologia  Anabaptist,"  p.  254. 

X  Those  who  wish  to  see  more  are  referred  to  Catrou,  Hisioire  du 
Fanaiisme,  torn,  i ;  and  to  Mesbovius. 


EFFECTS    OF    THE    REFORM    ON    RELIGION.  175 

by  God  ?  Prepare  your  hearts  to  receive  the  Holy  Spirit. 
Let  there  be  no  pulpit  whence  to  announce  the  word  of 
God:  no  priests,  no  preachers,  no  exterior  worship:  let 
your  dress  be  plain;  your  food  bread  and  salt;  and  God 
will  descend  upon  you." 

Miinzer,  another  Anabaptist,  thus  pleaded  for  the  gene- 
ral division  of  property :  "  Ye  rich  of  the  earth  who  keep 
us  in  bondage,  who  have  plundered  us,  give  us  back  our 
liberty  and  possessions.  It  is  not  only  as  men  that  we 
now  demand  what  has  been  taken  from  us  :  we  ask  it  as 
Christians.  In  the  primitive  church,  the  apostles  divided 
with  their  brethren  in  Jesus  Christ  the  money  that  was 
laid  at  their  feet.  Give  us  back  the  goods  you  unjustly 
retain.  Unhappy  flock  of  Jesus  Christ,  how  long  will  you 
groan  in  oppression  under  the  yoke  of  the  priest  and  the 
magistrate  ?"  "  And  then  the  prophet  suddenly  fell  into 
an  epileptic  fit:  his  hair  stood  erect;  perspiration  rolled 
down  his  face,  and  foam  issued  from  his  mouth.  The 
people  cried  out:  *  silence,  God  visits  his  prophet!'"* 

At  the  termination  of  his  ecstacy,  which  continued  for 
some  minutes,  the  prophet  cried  out  at  the  top  of  his  sten- 
torian voice:  *'  Eternal  God,  pour  into  my  soul  the  trea- 
sures of  thy  justice,  otherwise  I  shall  renounce  thee  and 
thy  prophets."!  A  Lutheran  having  appealed  to  the  Bible. 
*'The  Bible  ?  Babe)  !"  cried  Miinzer.J 

What  will  be  thought  of  this  strange  conceit  of  Karl- 
stadt  ?  *'  One  day,  Karlstadt  was  seen  running  through 
the  streets  of  Wittemberg  with  the  Bible  in  his  hand,  and 
stopping  the  passers-by  to  inquire  of  them  the  meaning  of 
difficult  passages  of  the  sacred  books  :  *  What  are  you 
about,'  said  the  Austin  friars  to  him.  *  Is  it  not  written' 
— answered  the  archdeacon — '  that  the  voice  of  truth  shall 
be  heard  from  the  lips  of  infants  ?  I  only  accomplish  the 
orders  of  heaven.'  "§     Who  has  not  heard  of  the  revolt- 

*  Aiidin,  p.  231.  f  Meshovius,  p.  4.     Catron,  sup  cit. 

t  Ibid.  §  Ibid 


176  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

ing  obscenities  of  John  of  Leyden,  and  of  the  prophets  of 
Munster  ?  All  perpetrated  too  under  the  bright  new  light 
of  the  reformation  !  Who,  in  fine,  that  has  even  glanced  at 
the  history  of  this  period,  has  not  remarked  the  endless 
extravagances,  the  absurd  conceits,  the  astonishing  fanati- 
cism which  marked  almost  every  day  of  its  annals  ! 

Truly,  then  "the  fountains  of  the  great  deep  were  bro- 
ken up,  and  the  flood-gates  of  heaven  were  opened  ;"''^  and 
a  new  deluge  flooded  the  earth,  more  destructive  than  that 
which  had  buoyed  up  Noah's  ark  !  For  this  destroyed  only 
the  bodies  of  men ;  that  carried  away  and  ruined  men's 
souls.  "  The  flood-gates  of  heaven" — did  we  say  ?  No, 
the  origin  of  those  waters  must  be  sought  elsewhere.  Lu- 
ther himself  aids  us  in  detecting  their  source.  We  have 
seen  above,  his  opinion  on  the  subject,  in  his  letter  to  the 
Christians  of  Antwerp.  And  in  his  subsequent  contro- 
versies with  the  Sacramentarians,  after  having  spoken  of 
their  dissensions  among  themselves,  he  said :  "  this  is  a 
great  proof  that  these  Sacramento-magists  come  not  from 
God,  but  from  the  devil."t  And  we  have  seen  how  Zu- 
inglius  retorted  the  compliment  on  Luther  and  his  refor- 
mation. 

Cannot  we  turn  this,  and  all  the  other  arguments  em- 
ployed by  the  several  reformers  to  refute  each  other, 
against  all  of  them  ?  Cannot  we  point  to  the  numberless 
dissensions  of  Protestants  among  themselves — dissensions 
perpetuated  a  hundred  fold  unto  this  day — to  prove  against 
them  all,  that  their  pretended  reformation,  which  always 
produced  such  fruits,  is  not  from  that  God,  •'  who  is  not 
the  God  of  dissension,  but  of  peace  ?"  Cannot  we  ask 
them,  whence  they  had  their  mission  to  reform  the  church? 
And  if  they  answer,  "from  heaven;"  ask  them  again  to 
prove  it  to  us  by  miracles  ?  How  will  they — how  can  they 
answer  these  arguments,  which  they  themselves  so  often 
wielded  against  one  another. 

*  Genesis  vi,  11. 

t  "An  die  Christen  zu  Reutlingen,"  5  January,  1526. 


EFFECTS  OF  THE  REFORM  ON  RELIGION.      177 

To  illustrate  this  matter  still  farther,  and  to  show  what 
spirit  originated  and  perpetuated  the  dissensions  with 
which  early  Protestantism  was  torn  into  fragments,  we 
will  here  exhibit  a  few  specimens  of  the  manner  in  which 
controversies  among  the  reformers  were  then  conduct- 
ed. In  1524,  Luther  went  to  Jena,  where  he  preached 
against  the  "prophets"  of  the  Anabaptists,  whose  argu- 
ments had  been  answered  by  their  brother  Protestants 
with  the  convincing  weapons 'of  fire  and  sword  !  Tens  of 
thousands  of  the  vast  multitudes,  whom  these  fanatics  had 
misled,  had  been  butchered ;  but  yet  their  spirit  was  not 
wholly  subdued.  Karlstadt,  then  pastor  at  Jena,  feeling 
himself  aggrieved  by  the  violence  of  Luther's  sermon, 
challeno;ed  him  to  an  oral  discussion.  The  challeno;e  was 
accepted,  and  the  tavern  of  the  *•  Black  Boar,"  was  the 
place  appointed  for  the  meeting.  After  some  preliminary 
discussion,  in  which  the  two  "  new  apostles"  indulged  in 
insulting  personalities — Karlstadt  maintaining  that  Luther 
had  meant  him  in  his  sermon,  and  Luther  calling  on  him 
for  proof,  telling  him  **if  he  saw  the  likeness  in  the  pic- 
ture, it  must  have  suited  him,"  &c. — the  discussion  pro- 
ceeded after  this  wise : 

Karlstadt.  "  Well  then,  I  will  dispute  in  public,  and  I 
will  manifest  the  truth  of  God,  or  my  own  confusion. 

Luther.  Your  own  folly  rather.  Doctor. 

Karlstadt.  My  confusion,  which  I  shall  bear  for  God's 
glory. 

Luther.  And  which  will  fall  back  on  your  own  shoul- 
ders.    I  care  little  for  your  menaces.    Who  fears  you  ? 

Karlstadt.  Whom  do  I  fear  }  My  doctrine  is  pure ;  it 
comes  from  God. 

Luther.  If  it  comes  from  God,  why  have  you  not  im- 
parted to  others  the  spirit  that  made  you  break  the  images 
at  Wittemberg  ? 

Karlstadt.  I  was  not  the  only  one  concerned  in  that 
enterprise.     It  was  done  after  a  mature  decision  of  the 


178 

senate,  and  by  the  co-operation  of  some  of  your  disciples, 
who  fled  in  the  moment  of  peril. 

Luther.  False,  I  protest. 

Karlstadt.  True,  I  protest." 

Karlstadt  complained  a  little  after,  that  Luther  had 
condemned  him  at  Wittemberg  without  previous  admo- 
nition. This  Luther  flatly  contradicted,  stating  that  "he 
had  brought  Philip  and  Pomeranius  into  his  study,"  for 
that  purpose :  hereupon  Kaflstadt  became  enraged,  and 
exclaimed:  "if  you  speak  the  truth,  may  the  d — il  tear 
me  in  pieces!"  The  discussion  ended  in  nothing — as 
most  discussions  of  the  kind  do.  Luther  challenged  Karl- 
stadt to  write  against  him;  the  latter  accepted  the  chal- 
lenge :  Luther  then  gave  him  a  gold  florin  as  stake  money, 
and  the  compact  was  duly  ratified,  after  the  old  German 
fashion,  by  two  overflowing  bumpers  of  ale.*  Never  had 
the  Black  Boar  of  Jena  been  so  crowded,  or  witnessed  a 
spectacle  of  such  stirring  interest !  And  such  a  spectacle  ! 

From  Jena  Luther  proceeded  to  Orlamunde,  \yhere  he 
carried  on  a  spirited  controversy,  in  the  presence  of  the 
town  council,  with  a  cobbler  theologian,  named  Crispin, 
who  had  recently  learned — thanks  to  the  reformation — 
how  to  apply  his  craft  to  interpreting,  if  not  mending  the 
Bible!  The  discussion  was  long  and  animated;  Crispin 
supplying  his  lack  of  argument  by  a  stentorian  voice,  and 
by  furious  gesticulations.  The  subject  was  the  lawful- 
ness of  images  ;  Luther  defending,  and  Crispin  objecting ; 
and  both  appealing  to  the  Bible.  What  was  most  morti- 
fying to  the  reformer,  the  town  council  sided  with  the 
cobbler,  and  decided  against  the  Wittemberg  Doctor  !  "  so 
then,"  said  Luther  to  the  council,  "you  condemn  me?" 

"Most  assuredly;"  cried  out  Crispin — "you  and  all 
who  teach  what  is  opposed  to  God's  word." 

"  A  childish  insult,"  said  Luther  as  he  mounted  the  car. 

One  of  the   chamberlains  here  caudit  hold  of  his  gar- 

*  Seo  the  whole  discussion  in  Audin,  p.  322,  seqq. 


EFFECTS    OF    THE    REFORM    ON    RELIGION.  179 

ments,  and  said:  ''before  you  go  away,  master,  a  word 
with  you  on  baptism,  and  the  sacrament  of  the  eucharist." 
*'  Have  you  not  my  books  P"  said  the  monk  to  him.  *'  Read 
them." 

*'  I  have  read  them,  and  my  conscience  is  not  satisfied 
with  them;"  said  the  chamberlain. 

**  If  any  thing  displeases  you  in  them  write  against  me ;" 
said  Luther:  and  he  started  off.  Luther  himself  relates 
to  us  this  adventure,  and  also  gives  to  us  the  words  of 
awful  malediction  with  which  the  people  greeted  him,  when 
he  was  leaving  Orlamunde.* 

But  the  most  interesting  discussion  of  all,  was  that  held 
at  Marburg  in  1528,  on  the  subject  of  the  holy  sacrament; 
between  Luther,  Melancthon,  Justus  Jonas,  and  Cruciger, 
on  the  one  part;  and  Zuingle,  CEcolampadius,  Martin  Bu- 
cer  and  Gaspard  Hedio,  on  the  other.  Luther  contended 
for  the  real  presence  of  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ  along 
with  that  of  the  bread  and  wine;  and  Zuinglius  main- 
tained a  figurative  presence,  or  rather,  no  presence  at  all. 
This  point  was  the  greatest  subject  of  contention  among 
the  reformers.  *' In  1527,  Luther  counted  already  no 
less  than  eight  different  interpretations  of  the  text :  *  this 
is  my  hudyP  Thirty  years  afterwards,  there  were  no  less 
than  eighty-five  !t  Rasperger,  who  wrote  at  a  somewhat 
later  period,  reckoned  no  less  than  two  hundred  !:}:  A 
pretty  good  commentary  this,  on  the  principle  of  private 
judgment.  It  must  surely  be  a  good  rule  of  faith,  since  it 
has  thus  led  to  those  "diversities,"  which  M.  D'Aubigne 
admires  so  much.§ 

*  0pp.  torn,  i,  edit.  Jen®,  fol.  467;  edit.  Witt,  i,  214.  Cf.  Audin, 
p.  329. 

-f  See  Audin,  p.  408,  note,  for  an  account  of  the  principal  interpreta- 
tions ;  most  of  them  singular  enough,  even  for  those  days  of  Bible 
mania. 

I  Apud  Lieberman,  Theologia  Dogmat.     De  Eucharistia. 

§  Bellarmine  bears  evidence  that  200  interpretations  of  the  words : — 
this  is  my  body — had  been  enumerated  in  a  work  published  in  1577, 
Controversise  vol.  iii,  cap.  viii,  de  Eucharist,  p.  195.  Edit.  Venetiis, 
1721— in  6  vols,  folio. 


180  d'aubigne's  history  reviewkd. 

One  of  Zuingle's  chief  arguments  against  the  real  pre- 
sence, was  the  fact,  that  this  doctrine  was  held  by  the 
Catholic  church.  Luther  answered:  **  wretched  argu- 
ment! Deny  then  the  Scripture  also;  for  we  have  re- 
ceived it  too  from  the  pope We  must  acknowledge 

that  there  are  great  mysteries  of  faith  in  the  papacy;  yea, 
all  the  truths  we  have  inherited  :  for  it  is  in  popery  that 
we  found  the  true  Scriptures,  true  baptism,  the  true  sa- 
crament of  the  altar,  the  true  keys  which  remit  sin,  true 
preaching,  the  true  catechism,  which  contains  the  Lord's 
prayer,  the  ten  commandments — that  is  true  Chris- 
tianity."* 

Precious  avowal,  coming  as  it  does,  from  the  father  of 
the  reformation — the  most  inveterate  enemy  of  Rome ! 
How  it  contrasts  with  many  of  his  other  declarations  ? 
Why  abandon  the  Catholic  church,  if  it  taught  all  this, 
and  held  *'  true  Christianity  ?"  "  Out  of  thy  own  mouth, 
I  judge  thee,  thou  wicked  servant!"  On  another  occa- 
sion, Luther  had  said  :  *'  had  Karlstadt  or  any  other  proved 
to  me,  five  years  ago  that  there  was  nothing  but  bread  and 
wine  in  the  sacrament,  he  would  have  rendered  me  great 
service.  It  would  have  been  a  great  blow  to  the  papacy  : 
but  it  is  all  in  vain  ;  the  text  is  too  plain."!  It  was  per- 
haps too  late :  he  had  already  taken  his  stand,  and  com- 
mitted himself  on  the  question. 

The  conference  on  this  subject  at  Marburg,  was  long 
and  violent :  instead  of  healing,  it  only  widened  the  breach 
among  the  reformers.  We  can  furnish  but  one  extract 
from  the  debate.  To  prove  the  figurative  presence,  Zuin- 
gle  had  appealed  to  Ezechiel's  wheel,  and  to  the  famous 
text  from  Exodus,  ch.  xii :  "  for  it  is  the  phase,  that  is,  the 
passover  of  the  Lord,"  which  text  had  been  suggested  to 
him  by  a  nocturnal  visiter  of  whom  "  he  could  not  say 


*  0pp.  Lutheri,  Jense,  fol.  408,  409. 

t  Lutheri  0pp.  edit.  Hall.  torn,  xv,  p.  2448.    Meiizel,  i,  2(jy,  270. 


EFFECTS    OF    THE    REFORM    ON    RELIGION.  181 

whether  he  was  black  or  white  !"*  Luther  answered : 
**  the  pasch  and  the  wheel  are  allegorical.  I  do  not  mean 
to  dispute  with  jou  about  a  word.  If  is  means  signifies, 
I  appeal  to  the  words  of  Christ,  who  says :  "  this  is  my 
body."  The  devil  cannot  get  out  of  them  (Da  Kann  der 
Teufel  nichtfiXr).  To  doubt  is  to  fall  from  the  faith.  Why 
do  you  not  also  see  a  trope  in  "  he  ascended  into  heaven." 
A  God  made  man,  the  Word  made  flesh,  a  God  who  suffers 
— these  are  all  incomprehensible  things,  which  you  must 
however  believe  under  penalty  of  eternal  damnation." 

Zuingle.  "  You  do  not  prove  the  matter.  I  will  not 
permit  you  to  incur  the  begging  of  the  question.  You 
must  change  your  note  (/Ar  werdet  mir  aiideres  singen). 
Do  you  think  that  Christ  wished  to  accommodate  himself 
to  the  ignorant?" 

Luther.  **  Do -you  then  deny  it  ?  *  This  is  a  hard  say- 
ing,' muttered  the  Jews,  who  spoke  of  the  thing  as  impos- 
sible.    This  passage  cannot  serve  you." 

Zuingle.  **  Bah !  it  breaks  your  neck"  (Nein  JVeinj 
hricht  euch  den  Hah  ab). 

Luther.  '*  Softly,  be  not  so  haughty:  you  are  not  in 
Switzerland,  but  in  Hesse;  and  necks  are  not  so  easily 
broken  here"  (Die  Hdlse  hrechen  nicht  also),\ 

The  wavering,  but  often  candid  Melancthon  wept  bit- 
terly over  the  dissensions  of  early  Protestantism.  He  had 
not  the  power  to  heal  the  crying  evil,  nor  the  courage  to 
abandon  the  system  in  which  it  originated.  From  many 
passages  of  his  writings  bearing  on  the  subject,  we  select 
the  following  lament,  in  a  confidential  letter  to  a  friend. 
"  The  Elbe  with  all  its  waves  could  not  furnish  tears 
enough  to  weep  over  the  miseries  of  the  distracted  refor- 
mation.":!: 

*  Florimond  Remond,  and  Schlussenburg,  in  proem.  Theolog.  Cal- 
vin.    Zuingle's  own  words  have  been  already  quoted. 

t  For  an  account  of  the  entire  discussion,  taken  from  Rodolph  Collin, 
an  eye  and  ear  witness,  see  Audin,  p.  413,  seqq. 

X  Epist.  lib.  ii,  Ep.  202. 
16 


182  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

The  inextricable  confusion  of  doctrinal  beliefs  induced 
by  the  principle  of  private  judgment,  even  during  the  life 
of  the  reformers  themselves,  reminds  us  of  another 
entanglement  extraordinary,  inimitably  described  by 
Scott: 

"  Now,  on  my  faith,  this  gear  is  all  entangled. 
Like  to  the  yarn  clew  of  the  drowsy  knitter. 
Dragged  by  the  frolic  kitten  through  the  cabin, 
While  the  good  dame  sits  nodding  o'er  the  fire  : 
Masters  attend:  'twill  crave  some  skill  to  clear  it." 

The  masters  "  did  attend,"  Melancthon  at  their  head  : 
but  they  had  not  the  '*  skill  which  was  craved,"  to  clear 
the  entanglement  of  the  reformation,  caused  by  the  "  frolic 
kitten"  of  private  judgment!  Nor  had  they  the  common 
prudence  to  muzzle  or  to  confine  the  bitten  which  had 
done  such  mischief.  In  this  negligence,  they  **  nodded^' 
more  than  Scott's  "good  dame!" 

Such  then  were  the  "  diversities"  of  early  Protestan- 
tism! Such  its  endless  maze  of  inconsistencies,  contra- 
dictions, and  absurdities !  Such  the  bitter  fruits  of  that 
tree  of  revolt  which  Luther  planted  in  the  centre  of  Ger- 
many :  and  which  was  watered  by  the  blood  of  the  slaugh- 
tered Anabaptists,  of  the  hundred  thousand  men  who  fell 
in  the  war  of  the  peasants,  and  of  the  countless  multitudes, 
who  perished  in  the  thirty  years'  war  !  Such  was  the  in- 
fluence of  the  reformation  on  the  doctrines  of  Christianity ! 
It  found  but  one  faith  on  the  earth;  and  it  created  a  hun- 
dred new  ones,  all  contradicting  each  other !  Before  it 
came,  mankind  were  of  "  one  tongue  and  of  one  speech  ;" 
after  it  had  done  its  work,  there  was  a  confusion  of 
tongues  on  the  earth,  and  men  no  longer  understood  each 
other.  Does  not  St.  Paul  draw  a  lively  picture  of  earl j — 
and  even  of  modern  Protestantism — when  he  speaks  of 
those  who  are  like  **  children  tossed  to  and  fro,  and  car- 
ried about  with  every  wind  of  doctrine,  in  the  wickedness 
of  men,  in  craftiness,  in  which  they  lie  in  wait  to  de- 


EFFECTS  OF  THE  REFORM  ON  RELIGION.      183 

ceive?"*  Could  a  system  which  thus  divided  and  unset- 
tled faith — which  produced  all  these  disastrous  results,  be 
approved  by  heaven  ? 

Let  it  not  be  said,  that  the  reformation  did  not  produce 
all  these  bitter  consequences.  It  is  fairly  responsible  for 
them  all.  No  effect  everfoUowedmore  necessarily  or  more 
immediately,  from  any  cause,  than  these  divisions  followed 
from  their  first  great,  and  their  only  cause — private  judg- 
ment, as  the  only  rule  of  faith.  This  principle  is  respon- 
sible for  yet  more  evil  results:  it  has  led,  by  gradual  but 
by  certain  steps,  to  infidelity.  History  does  not  tell  us 
of  any  who  made  a  profession  of  infidel  principles  in 
Christian  countries,  during  the  first  fifteen  ages  of  the 
church.  And  now,  what  is  the  state  of  that  portion  of  the 
world,  which  on  the  continent  of  Europe  professes  Pro- 
testant Christianity  ?  Infidelity  is  the  order  of  the  day  in 
Germany,  and  in  Switzerland ;  the  two  fatherlands  of 
Protestantism.  It  is  unnecessary  to  multiply  proof  on  a 
matter  so  unquestionable.  Even  M.  D'Aubigne  himself 
admits,  that  the  majority  of  Protestants  have  passed  over 
to  the  standard  of  rationalism,  or  the  religion  of  men"t — 
alias  to  rank  deism.  And  even  where  Protestantism  still 
subsists,  what  is  it,  but  a  lifeless  tree,  the  withered 
branches  of  which  are  stirred  only  by  the  breath  of  its  own 
internal  dissensions? 

We  will  conclude  this  chapter  with  the  picture  of  Pro- 
testantism in  modern  Germany,  drawn  by  the  master  hand 
of  Frederick  Von  Schlegel,  whose  mighty  mind,  disgusted 
with  the  endless  mazes  of  Protestantism,  sought  refuge 
within  the  pale  of  Catholic  unity.  He  is  speaj^ing  of  the 
boasted  biblical  learning  of  Germany,  in  which  he  says 
*' the  true  key  of  interpretation,  which  sacred  tradition 
alone  can  furnish,  was  irretrievably  lost,  as  the  sequel  has 
but  too  well  proved  !"  He  then  adds  :  *<this  is  no  where 
so  fully  understood,  and  so  deeply  felt,  as  in  Protestant 

*  Ephesians,  iv,  14.  t  Preface  to  vol.  i,  p.  9. 


184  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

Germany  of  the  present  day — Germany,  where  lies  the 
root  of  Protestantism,  its  mighty  centre,  its  all-ruling 
spirit,  and  its  life-blood — Germany,  where,  to  supply  the 
want  of  the  true  spirit  of  religion,  a  remedy  is  sought 
sometimes  in  the  external  forms  of  liturgy,*  sometimes  in 
the  pompous  apparatus  of  biblical  philology  and  research, 
destitute  of  the  true  key  of  interpretation ;  sometimes  in 
the  empty  philosophy  of  rationalism,  and  sometimes  in  the 
mazes  of  a  mere  interior  pietism."t 

*  He  here  refers  to  the  ordinances  promulgated  a  few  years  ago  by 
the  king-  of  Prussia,  for  the  reform  of  the  Liturgy  (Protestant.) 
t  Philosophy  of  History,  ii,  207. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 


INFLUENCE    OF    THE    REFORMATION    ON    MORALS. 

"  This  world  is  fallen  on  an  easier  way ; 

This  age  knows  better  than  to  fast  and  pray."— Dri/<fcn. 

Two  methods  of  investigation — Connexion  of  doctrines  and  morals — 
Salutary  influence  of  Catholic  doctrines — Of  confession — Objections 
answered — Of  celibacy — Its  manifold  advantages — Utility  of  the 
doctrines  of  satisfaction  and  indulgences — Of  fasting — Of  prayers  for 
the  dead — Of  communion  of  saints — Sanctity  of  marriage — Divorces 
— Influence  of  Protestant  doctrines — Shocking  disorders — Bigamy 
and  polygamy — Mohammedanism — Practical  results — Testimonies  of 
Luther,  Bucer,  Calvin  and  Melancthon — and  of  Erasmus — Character 
of  Erasmus — John  Reuchlin — Present  state  of  morals  in  Protestant 
countries. 

We  have  seen  what  was  the  influence  of  the  reformation 
on  the  doctrines  of  Christianity.  We  will  now  briefly 
examine  its  influence  on  morals.  Was  this  beneficial,  or 
was  it  injurious  ?  There  are  two  ways  to  decide  this  ques- 
tion :  the  one  by  reasoning  a  priori  on  the  nature  and  ten- 
dency of  the  respective  doctrines  of  Catholicism  and  of 
Protestantism;  the  other,  which  will  greatly  confirm  the 
conclusions  of  the  former,  by  facts  showing  v/hat  was  the 
relative  practical  influence  of  both  systems.  We  will 
employ  both  these  methods  of  investigation. 

I.  Doctrines  have  a  powerful  influence  on  morals.  The 
former  enlighten  the  understanding,  the  latter  guide  and 
direct  the  movements  of  the  heart  and  will.  These  are  of 
themselves  mere  blind  impulses,  until  light  is  reflected  on 
them  from  the  understanding.  A  sound  faith  then,  illu- 
mining the  intellect,  is  an  essential  pre -requisite  to  sound 
16* 


186  d'atjbigne's  history  reviewed. 

morals,  in  the  individual,  as  well  as  in  society.  True,  we 
are  able,  bj  the  exercise  of  our  free  will,  to  shut  our  eyes 
to  the  light,  and  to  continue  acting  perversely;  but  this 
does  not  disprove  the  powerful  influence,  which  the  un- 
derstanding enlightened  by  faith,  has  over  our  moral  con- 
duct. 

What  was  the  necessary  moral  influence  of  those  doc- 
trines of  the  Catholic  church,  which  the  reformation  re- 
jected ;  and  what  that  of  those  new  ones  which  it  substi- 
tuted in  their  place  ?  We  speak  only,  of  course,  of  the 
distinctive  doctrines  of  both  communions  ;  not  of  the  com- 
mon ground  which  they  occupy.  The  reformation  re- 
tained many  of  the  great  principles  of  Christianity,  which, 
according  to  the  testimony  of  Luther  himself,  referred  to 
above,  it  had  borrowed  from  the  Catholic  church.  Among 
the  doctrines,  or  important  points  of  discipline  which  the 
reformation  repudiated,  the  principal  were :  confession ; 
the  celibacy  of  the  clergy;  the  doctrine  of  satisfaction, 
implied  in  fasting,  purgatory,  prayers  for  the  dead,  and 
indulgences  ;  the  honor  and  invocation  of  saints  ;  and  the 
indissoluble  sanctity  of  marriage;  to  say  nothing  of  the 
real  presence,  which  the  greater  portion  of  Protestants  also 
rejected.  We  will  say  a  few  words  on  the  moral  influ- 
ence of  each  of  these  doctrines.  We  may  say  of  them  all 
in  general,  that  they  had  a  restraining  and  elevating  effect ; 
that  many  of  them  were  painful  to  human  nature;  and 
opposed  a  strong  barrier  to  the  passions. 

Even  Voltaire  admitted  the  salutary  moral  influence  of 
confession.  He  says:  *' The  enemies  of  the  Catholic 
church,  who  opposed  an  institution  so  salutary,  seem  to 
have  taken  away  from  men  the  greatest  possible  check  to 
secret  offences."*  Another  infidel,  and  mortal  enemy  of 
Rome — Marmontel — says :  "  How  salutary  a  preservative 
for  the  morals  of  youth,  is  the  practice  and  obligation  of 


*  "  Annales  de  I'Empire,  quoted  by  Kobelot,  "Influence,"  Sec.  p. 24, 
nofe. 


INFLUENCE  OF  THE  REFORMATION  ON  MORALS.         187 

going  to  confession  every  month  ?  The  shame  attending 
this  humble  avowal  of  the  most  hidden  sins,  prevents  per- 
haps the  commission  of  more  of  them,  than  all  other  mo- 
tives the  most  holj  taken  together."*  Nothing  but  stern 
truth  could  have  drawn  such  avowals  from  such  men. 

How  many  crimes,  in  fact,  has  not  the  practice  of  con- 
fession prevented  or  corrected  !  How  much  implacable 
hatred  has  it  not  appeased  !  How  much  restitution  of  ill- 
gotten  goods,  and  how  much  reparation  of  injured  charac- 
ter, has  it  not  brought  about !  How  often  has  it  not  pre- 
served giddy  youth  from  confirmed  habits  of  secret  and 
degrading  vice  !  How  much  consolation  has  it  not  poured 
into  bosoms  torn  by  anguish,  or  weighed  down  by  sorrow  ! 
What  amount  of  good  and  salutary  advice  has  it  not  im- 
parted !  How  often  has  it  not  prevented  the  sinner  from 
being  driven  to  the  very  verge  of  despair !  In  a  word, 
how  much  has  it  not  contributed  to  the  preservation  of 
morals  in  every  portion  of  society,  which  felt  its  influence ! 

Tell  us  not,  that  confession  may  be  abused  by  corrupt 
men — that  it  has  been  often  made  an  instrument  of  unholy 
ambition  in  the  hands  of  the  priesthood — and  that  it  facili- 
tates the  commission  of  crime,  by  its  offer  of  pardon. 
These  objections  are  all  based  on  unfounded  suspicion,  or 
gross  misapprehension  of  the  nature  of  confession.  At 
least  the  evils  complained  of  are  greatly  exaggerated,  and 
are  not  to  be  put  in  comparison  with  the  incalculable 
amount  of  good,  which  this  institution  is  calculated  to 
effect,  and  which  it  has  really  done.  What  good  thing  is 
there,  which  has  not  been  abused  ?  Has  not  the  Bible 
itself,  abused  by  wicked  men,  been  a  source  of  incalcula- 
ble mischief?  Has  not  the  church  guarded  against  abuses 
in  the  confessional,  by  the  sternest  enactments  ?  One  of 
these  takes  from  the  wicked  priest  all  power  of  absolving 
an  accomplice  in  crime ;  and  another  requires  the  peni- 

*  '« Mcinoires,"  torn,  i,  liv,  i.     Apud  Robelct,  ibid. 


188  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

tent  to  denounce  the  unfaithful  minister  to  the  proper  au- 
thorities.* 

And  then,  how  sacred  and  inviolable  has  not  the  seal  of 
confession  ever  been  ?  History  does  not  record  one  single 
instance  of  its  violation,  among  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
priests,  in  the  long  lapse  of  ages  !t  How  can  the  priest 
avail  himself  of  the  knowledge  obtained  through  confes- 
sion, in  order  to  exercise  political  or  any  other  undue  in- 
fluence, when  he  is  bound  by  the  most  sacred  obligation, 
sanctioned  by  the  most  severe  penalties,  to  make  no  use 
whatever  of  the  knowledge  thus  acquired  ?  Why  reason 
from  mere  suppositions  and  mere  possibilities,  against 
the  strongest  evidences,  and  the  most  stubborn  facts  of 
history  ? 

As  to  the  other  objection — that  confession  encourages 
the  commission  of  sin — it  is  as  puerile  as  it  is  hackneyed. 
Absurdity  is  stamped  on  its  very  face.  What  ?  is  it  easier 
then  to  commit  a  sin  which  you  know  you  have  to  confess 
to  a  fellow  man,  than  it  would  be  to  commit  the  same  sin, 
without  feeling  any  such  obligation  ?  We  would  not  be 
guilty  of  an  oftence,  forsooth,  which  we  believed  we  could 
expiate  by  a  mere  act  of  internal  repentance,  joined  with 
confession  to  God;  and  yet  we  would  be  encouraged  to 
commit  this  same  offence,  if  we  felt  that,  in  addition  to  all 
this,  we  would  be  obliged  to  confess  it  to  a  priest !  The 
objection  is  predicated  on  a  strange  ignorance  of  human 
nature.  The  Catholic  church  requires,  for  the  remission 
of  sin,  all  that  Protestants  demand,  and,  over  and  above 
all  this,  it  requires  as  essential  conditions  to  pardon,  many 
painful  things — confession,  restitution,  works  of  peniten- 


*  See  the  two  bulls  of  Benedict  XIV  on  this  subject.  They  be- 
gin, Sacramentum .  and  ^postolici.  Another  enactment  to  the  same 
effect  was  made  by  pope  Gregory  XV,  in  the  year  1622.  See  Liguori — 
«'  Homo  jlpostolicus''  Tract.  XVI,  numo.  95,  seqq.  and  numo.  165,  seqq. 
De  complice  et  sollicit. 

t  See  the  testimony  of  Marmontel  to  this  effect.    Memoires,  torn.  iv. 


INFLUENCE   OF  THE  REFORMATION  ON  MORALS.         189 

tial  satisfaction — which  Protestants  do  not  require. 
Wliich  system  encourages  the  commission  of  sin  most  ? 

The  people  never  could  be  induced  to  confess  their  sins 
to  a  married  clergy.  From  the  testimony  of  Burkard, 
bishop  of  Worms,  it  appears  that  the  Catholic  population 
of  that  city  refused  to  go  to  confession  to  those  priests, 
who,  stimulated  by  the  principles  of  the  reformation  then 
just  commencing,  had  broken  their  vows  of  celibacy  by 
taking  wives.  Confession  and  celibacy  fell  together.  A 
married  clergy  never  can  command  the  respect,  which  has 
ever  been  paid  to  those  who  are  unmarried.  This  is  gene- 
rally admitted  by  Protestants,  and  even  is  made  a  matter 
of  censure  against  the  Catholic  clergy,  who  are  accused  of 
having  too  much  influence  over  their  flocks !  The  true 
secret  of  this  influence  lies  in  the  greater  abstraction  from 
the  world — in  the  greater  freedom  from  worldly  solicitude 
— in  the  more  spiritual  character  of  an  unmarried  clergy. 
Does  not  St.  Paul  allege  these  very  motives,  in  the  strong 
appeal  he  makes  in  favor  of  celibacy,  in  his  first  epistle  to 
the  Corinthians  ?*  Does  he  not  advise  the  embracing  of 
this  state  both  by  word  and  example?  Can  the  Catholic 
church  be  blamed  for  having  adopted  his  principles,  and 
acted  on  his  advice  ? 

Who  can  recount  the  immense  advantages  of  priestly 
celibacy  to  society  ?  Who  can  tell  of  all  the  splendid 
churches  it  has  erected  ;  of  the  hospitals  for  the  sick  and 
the  afllicted,  it  has  reared  ;  of  the  colleges  it  has  built;  of 
the  ignorant  it  has  instructed  ;  of  the  noble  examples  of 
heroic  charity  it  has  given  to  the  world  ;  and  of  the  Pagan 
nations  it  has  converted  to  Christianity  ?  Catholic  Europe 
is  full  of  noble  monuments  to  religion,  to  literature  and  to 
charity,  which  an  unmarried  priesthood  has  built  up. 

To  advert  briefly  to  the  last  consideration  named  above  ; 
can  a  married  clergy,  other  things  being  equal,  cope  with 
one  that  is  unmarried,  in  missionary  labors  among  heathen 

*  Chap.  vii.    Read  the  whole  chapter. 


190  D^AUBlGNli's    HISTORY    REVIEWED. 

nations  ?  With  the  incumbrance  of  their  wives  and  child- 
ren, can  the  former  be  as  free  in  their  movements,  be  as 
zealous  and  disinterested ;  can  they  mingle  as  freel}'  with 
the  people,  labor  as  much,  or  succeed  as  well,  in  any  re- 
spect, as  the  latter?  What  say  the  annals  of  Protestant 
missionary  enterprise  on  this  subject  ?  Can  they  point  to 
one  single  nation  or  people  converted  to  Christianity  by 
their  married  preachers,  notwithstanding  the  immense  out- 
lay of  money  for  this  purpose,  and  all  the  parade  that  is 
made  on  the  matter  ?  True,  there  are  other  weighty  causes, 
which  have  greatly  contributed  to  this  signal  failure  in 
Protestant  missions;  but  the  want  of  celibacy  in  their 
ministers  is  no  doubt  one  great  reason.  Some  Protestant 
missionary  societies  in  the  U.  States  are  beginning  to  feel 
the  truth  of  this  remark.* 

The  doctrine  of  satisfaction  was  another  strong  Catholic 
barrier  against  vice,  which  the  reformation  destroyed. 
The  reformers  could  not  appreciate  the  utility  of  fasting, 
of  vigils,  and  of  other  works  of  penance,  to  expiate  sin. 
They  had  abolished  the  great  sacrifice  of  the  new  law  ;  and 
they  wished  also  to  abolish  all  those  painful  observances, 
which  could  nourish  and  keep  alive  in  the  soul  of  the 
Christian  that  spirit  of  sacrifice,  which  might  incline  him 
"to  deny  himself,  to  take  up  his  cross  and  to  follow 
Christ."  Both  kinds  of  sacrifice  were  intimately  con- 
nected ;  and  they  both  fell  together.  The  reformers  no 
longer  taught  their  disciples,  after  the  example  of  St.  Paul, 
*'  to  chastise  their  bodies  and  bring  them  into  subjection," 
or  "  to  fill  up  those  things  that  are  wanting  of  the  suffer- 
ings of  Christ,  in  their  flesh. "t 

And  yet,  besides  expiating  sin,  and  rendering  Christians 
more  conformable  to  the  image  of  the  Saviour  and  of  St. 
Paul,  this  doctrine  was  fraught  with  incalculable  advan- 
tages to  society.     To  expiate  their  sins.  Catholics  of  the 

*  We  shall  treat  of  this  subject  in  greater  detail  hereafter, 
t  Colossians  i,  24. 


INFLUENCE  OF  THE  REFORMATION  ON  MORALS.  191 

olden  time  not  only  "  chastised  their  bodies,"  but  they 
also  bestowed  abundant  alms,  and  reared  splendid  institu- 
tions of  learning  and  of  charity.  Many  of  the  colleges  and 
hospitals  of  Europe  owe  their  erection  to  the  operation  of 
this  principle.  It  is  quite  common  to  find  in  the  testa- 
mentary dispositions  of  their  pious  founders,  this  conside- 
ration expressed  in  such  clauses  as  this  :  "  for  the  expiation 
of  my  sins." 

We  have  seen  that  St.  Peter's  church  and  the  university 
of  Wittemberg  were  both  indebted  for  their  erection  mainly 
to  indulgences,  which  were  predicated  on  the  necessity  of 
satisfaction  for  sin.  These  are  two  instances,  out  of  hun- 
dreds which  might  be  stated,  to  show  the  beneficial  influ- 
ence of  this  doctrine  on  society.*  Alas  !  Charity  hath 
grown  cold  in  those  places  where  this  principle  hath  ceased 
to  exist !  Private  interest — a  fever  for  speculation — selfish 
and  sordid  avarice — have  dried  up  those  deep  fountains 
of  Catholic  charity,  which  erewhile  irrigated  and  fertilized 
the  earth  ! 

How  many  are  the  advantages  of  fasting!  How  it  ele- 
vates the  mind,t  fosters  temperance,  and  teaches  us  to  re- 
strain the  passions,  and  to  subdue  the  rebellious  flesh! 
*'Like  another  spring,"  according  to  the  beautiful  com- 
parison of  St.  John  Chrysostom,:}: ''it  renews  the  spirit, 
and  brings  calm  and  joy  to  the  soul."  It  also  promotes 
health  and  conduces  to  longevity.  Who  has  not  remarked 
the  great  age  to  which  the  anchorites  of  the  desert  attained  ? 
Malte  Brun  informs  us,  that  of  one  hundred  and  fifty-two 
anchorites,  who  lived  in  different  climates,  and  in  difi*er- 
ent  centuries,  the  average  age  was  seventy-six  years.§ 
By  accustoming  us  to  endure  privation,  fasting  teaches  us 

*  See  "  The  Ages  of  Faith"  by  Kenelm  Digby,  which  is  full  of  such 
examples. 

t  Vitia  compriinit,  mentem  elevat,  virixdem  largitur  et  prcemia. — Prsef. 
ad  Missa. 

J  St.  John  Chrysostom — <'De  excellentia  Jejun."   0pp.  T.  ii. 

§  "  Precis  de  la  Geographie"  ii,  44. 


192  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

to  bear  patiently  the  necessary  ills  of  life,  and  disposes  us 
for  great  enterprises.  In  fact  it  is  remarkable,  that  Moses 
and  Elias  did  not  approach  the  Deity  to  receive  his  special 
communications,  but  after  the  preliminary  disposition  of 
long  fasting:  and  that  Christ  himself  "  fasted  forty  days 
and  forty  nights,"  ere  he  entered  on  his  divine  mission  of 
mercy. 

How  soothing  to  the  soul  is  that  communion  with  the 
departed,  which  is  kept  up  by  the  Catholic  practice  of 
praying  for  the  dead  ?  Even  the  stern  Doctor  Johnson  felt 
the  beauty  and  the  force  of  this  sympathy:  he  not  only 
defended  this  practice,  but  he  adopted  it  himself.  He  was 
not  satisfied  with  merely  dropping  a  tear  warm  from  his 
heart  over  the  grave  of  his  departed  mother;  but  he,  at 
the  same  time,  wafted  a  fervent  prayer  to  heaven  for  her 
repose.*  And  how  elevating  and  useful,  on  the  other 
hand,  is  that  constant  communion  with  heaven,  which  is 
kept  up  by  the  invocation  of  saints  !  It  stimulates  us,  not 
only  to  admire  their  supereminent  glory  and  to  implore 
their  aid;  but  also  to  imitate  their  virtues.  The  ofl&ces 
of  the  church  keep  up  a  constant  round  of  anniversary 
celebrations  of  the  virtues  and  triumphs  of  these  heroes  of 
Christianity;  their  virtues  are  thus  always  kept  fresh  in 
the  minds  of  the  faithful,  who  are  by  this  means  power- 
fully stimulated  to  follow  their  example.  Who  does  not 
perceive  the  beneficial  influence  of  this  practice  on  the 
morals  of  society  ? 

On  the  subject  of  marriage,  the  Catholic  church  has 
never  swerved  in  the  least  from  the  stern  line  of  duty.  She 
has  ever  defended  its  sanctity  and  maintained  its  indisso- 
lubility. Many  of  her  struggles  with  princes  during 
the  middle  ages,  were  for  the  vindication  of  these  sacred 
principles.  England  was  lost  to  the  church,  because  the 
unwavering  firmness  of  the  church  would  not  permit 
Henry  VIII  to  repudiate  a  virtuous   wife,  and  to  wed 

*  See  Bos  well's  Life  of  Johnson. 


INFLUENCE  OF  THE  REFORMATION  ON  MORALS.  193 

another  more  to  his  royal  taste.  She  has  won  imperisha- 
ble honors  in  this  battle  field,  on  which  she  has  nobly  and 
victoriously  contended  with  the  army  of  the  passions. 

On  this  point,  as  we  have  seen,  the  reformers  were  not 
so  unyielding.  They  not  only  allowed  two  wives  to  the 
landgrave  of  Hesse ;  but  they  permitted  divorce  for  trivial 
causes ;  and  some  of  them  even  sanctioned  polygamy  after 
the  example  of  the  patriarchs.  What  were  the  effects  of 
their  teaching  on  this  subject,  we  shall  see  more  fully  in 
the  sequel.  It  will  suffice  here  to  remark  one  obvious  re- 
sult of  this  laxity  of  doctrine,  in  regard  to  the  sacredness 
of  the  marriage  contract.  Before  the  reformation,  divorces 
were  almost  unheard  of;  great  princes  sometimes  applied 
for  them,  but  met  with  determined  resistance  and  a  stern 
rebuke,  on  the  part  of  the  church.  Even  at  present,  in 
Catholic  countries,  they  are  almost  unknown.  Is  it  so  in 
those  communities  where  the  influence  of  the  reformation 
has  been  extensively  felt  ?  Alas  !  in  these,  men  seem  to 
have  lost  sight  of  the  divine  injunction  :  **  What  God  has 
united,  let  not  man  put  asunder."  •*  Divorces  have  multi- 
plied to  a  frightful  extent.  In  the  United  States,  our 
legislatures  receive  annually  thousands  of  petitions  for 
divorce  :  and  what  is  more  deplorable,  they  usually  grant 
the  prayer  of  the  petitioners  !  Is  not  this  a  lamentable 
evil,  most  injurious  to  society  ?  Whence  does  it  origi- 
nate, if  not  in  the  weakening  of  Catholic  principles  in  re- 
gard to  the  indissolubility  of  the  marriage  contract,  by  the 
counter  principles  broached  at  the  period  of  the  refor- 
mation ? 

A  volume  might  be  written  on  the  salutary  influence  on 
society  of  those  distinctive  doctrines  of  the  Catholic  which 
Protestants  have  rejected.t  But  our  limits  permitted  only 
the  above  rapid  and  imperfect  sketch :  and  we  must  now 


*  Matth.  xix,  6. 

I  Those  who  may  wish  to  see  more  on  this  subject,  are  referred  to 
Scotti — Teorcmi  di  Polilica  Christiana — an  Italian  work  in  2  vols.Svo. 
17 


194 

pass  on  to  the  inquiry;  what  was  the  moral  influence  of 
those  new  doctrines  which  the  reformation  introduced  ?  We 
have  already  seen  what  many  of  these  doctrines  were,  and 
we  have  already  been  enabled  to  estimate,  in  a  great 
measure,  their  effect  on  the  morals  of  society.  But  we 
will  here  give  some  farther  details  on  a  subject  so  in- 
teresting. 

Luther's  famous  (infamous !)  sermon  on  marriage, 
preached  in  the  public  church  of  Wittemberg  in  1522, 
gave  great  scandal,  and  was  a  source  of  incalculable  moral 
evil  throughout  Germany.  It  openly  pandered  to  the 
basest  passions  of  human  nature.  It  was  busily  circula- 
ted and  greedily  devoured  by  all  classes,  among  those 
who  were  favorable  to  the  reformation.  Never  was  there 
a  grosser  specimen  of  unblushing  lubricity :  aiid  its  having 
been  so  much  relished  by  the  partisans  of  Luther,  is  a 
certain  index  of  a  very  low  standard  of  morality  at  that 
period.  But  this  was  not  the  only  specimen  of  decency 
given  by  the  "  father  of  the  reformation."  Many  of  his  let- 
ters to  his  private  friends  are  too  obscene  to  be  exhibited, 
even  in  the  original  Latin.  Yet  they  had  a  powerful  effect 
on  the  morals  of  the  age.  Luther  openly  invited  the  Ca- 
tholic priests,  monks,  and  nuns,  who  had  vowed  celibacy, 
to  break  their  vows,  which  he  styled  the  "bonds  of  anti- 
christ." His  soul  overflowed  with  joy  at  the  news  of  each 
new  sacrilegious  marriage.  He  would  congratulate  the 
infringer  of  his  vows,  "  on  his  having  overcome  an  impure 
and  damnable  celibacy,"  by  entering  into  marriage,  which 
he  painted  as  *'  a  paradise  even  in  the  midst  of  poverty."* 
He  wrote  a  work  against  celibacy  and  monastic  vows, 
teeming  with  the  strongest  appeals  to  the  passions.  He 
openly  urged  princes  to  expel  by  force  the  religious  from 
their  monasteries.f 

*    "  Paradisum  arbitror    conjiigium  vel  summa  inopia   laborans." 
Epist.  Nicholao  Gerbellis,  Nov.  1,  1521. 

t  See  his  words  quoted  by  Audin,  p.  335,  seqq. 


INFLUENCE  OF  THE  REFORMATION  ON  MORALS.         195 

Erasmus,  an  eye  witness,  paints  the  disorders  to  wliich 
Luther's  epistles,  sermons,  and  works  against  celibacy, 
naturally  led.  He  represents  certain  cities  of  Germany  as 
swarming  with  apostate  monks,  who  drank  beer  to  excess, 
danced  and  sang  in  the  public  streets,  and  gave  into  all 
manner  of  excesses.  He  says,  "that  if  they  could  get 
enough  to  eat  and  a  wife,  they  cared  not  a  straw  for  any 
thing  else."*  *'  When  they  found  not  wives  among  the 
female  religious,  they  sought  them  in  the  haunts  of  vice. 
What  cared  they  for  the  priestly  benediction  ?  They  mar- 
ried each  other,  and  celebrated  their  nuptials  by  orgies, 
in  which  the  new  married  couple  generally  lost  their 
reason."! 

*'  Formerly,"  says  Erasmus,  "  men  quitted  their  wives 
for  the  sake  of  the  gospel ;  now-a-days,  the  gospel  flour- 
ishes most,  when  a  few  succeed  in  marrying  wives  with 
rich  dowries. "±  He  caustically  remarks,  "  that  (Ecolam- 
padius  had  lately  married  a  beautiful  young  girl,  he  sus- 
pects, to  mortify  his  flesh. "§  He  also  informs  us,  that 
these  ex-monks,  after  having  become  the  most  zealous 
partisans  of  the  reformation,  subsisted  by  open  robbery  of 
the  churches  and  of  their  neighbors,  indulged  to  excess  in 
drinking  and  in  games  of  hazard,  and  presented  a  specta- 
cle of  the  most  revolting  licentiousness. || 

Luther  had  taught  that  "as  in  the  first  da}s  of  Chris- 
tianity, the  church  was  forced  to  exalt  virginity  among 
the  Pagans,  who  honored  adultery;  so,  now,  when  the 
Lord  had  made  the  light  of  the  gospel  shine  forth,  it  was 
necessary  to  exalt  marriage,  at  the  expense  of  popish  celi- 
bacy."•[[     The  apostate  monks  eagerly  seized  on  this  and 

*  Amant  viaticum  et  uxorem :  coetera  pili  non  faciunt."  Erasmi 
Epist.  p.  637. 

t  Audin  p.  336,  who  quotes  from  Erasmus — loco  citaio. 

X  "  Nunc  floret  evangeliura,  si  pauci  ducant  uxores  bene  dotatas 
Erasmi  Epist.  p.  768. 

§  Ibid.  p.  632.  II  Ibid.  p.  766. 

II  Luther  0pp.  torn  i,  p.  526  seqq. 


196  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

similar  teachings  of  the  reformer;  and  the  above  are  some 
of  the  disorders  which  naturally  ensued.  But  even  they 
are  not  the  worst.  Bigamy  was  quite  common  among  them, 
at  least  for  a  time.  They  defended  it  too  on  scriptural 
grounds.  Luther  was  appealed  to  on  the  subject.  In  his 
reply,  he  wavers  and  hesitates,  wishes  each  individual  to 
be  left  to  the  guidance  of  his  own  conscience,  and  con- 
cludes his  letter  in  these  words:  "  for  my  part  I  candidly 
confess,  that  I  could  not  prohibit  any  one,  who  might  wish 
it,  to  take  many  wives  at  once,  nor  is  this  repugnant  to  the 
holy  scriptures.  But  there  are  things  lawful,  which  are 
not  expedient.     Bigamy  is  of  the  number."* 

Karlstadt  went  still  farther:  he  wished  to  make  poly- 
gamy obligatory,  or  at  least  entirely  permissible  to  all. 
He  said  to  Luther:  "  as  neither  you,  nor  I,  have  found  a 
text  in  the  sacred  books  against  bigamy,  let  us  be  biga- 
mists and  trigamists— let  us  take  as  many  wives  as  we  can 
maintain.  "  Increase  and  multiply.  Do  you  understand  ? 
Accomplish  the  order  of  heaven. "t  This  argument  must 
have  had  great  weight  v/ith  Luther,  as  he  had  maintained 
that  celibacy  was  impossible,  and  had  brought  that  very 
text  from  Genesis,  to  prove  that  marriage  was  a  divine 
command  obligatory  on  all.  By  the  way,  as  Luther  mar- 
ried only  at  the  age  of  forty-two,  what  are  we  to  think  of 
the  purity  of  his  previous  life,  when  he  openly  maintained 
such  principles  as  these?  They  were  well  calculated,  at 
any  rate,  to  bring  down  the  lofty  standard  of  Christian 
morality  to  that  of  Mohammedanism  :  and,  if  they  did  not 
bring  about  this  result,  we  owe  no  thanks  at  least  to  the 
reformation.  How  strangely  these  loose  principles  of  mo- 
rality contrast  with  the  stern  teachings  of  the  Catholic 
church  on  marriage ! 

•  Epist.  ad  K.  Bruck  13.  Janu.  1524.  "  Ego  sane  fateor  me  non 
posse  prohibere  si  quis  velit  plures  ducere  uxores,  nee  repugnat  Sacris 
Uteris  ?" 

t  Apud  Audin,  p.  339. 


IXFLUKNCE  OF  THE  REFORMATION  ON  MORALS.         197 

II.  It  was  natural  to  expect,  that  the  influence  of  such 
principles  as  these,  as  well  as  of  those  we  developed  in 
another  place,*  should  have  been  most  injurious  to  public 
morals.  And  accordingly  we  find,  from  the  testimony  of 
the  reformers  themselves,  and  of  their  earliest  partisans, 
that  such  precisely  was  the  case.  Luther  himself  assures 
us  of  this  deterioration  in  public  morals.  *' The  world 
grows  worse  and  worse,  and  becomes  more  wicked  every 
day.  Men  are  now  more  given  to  revenge,  more  avari- 
cious, more  devoid  of  mercy,  less  modest,  and  more  incor- 
rigible; in  fine,  more  wicked  than  in  the  papacy.''!  In 
another  place  he  says,  speaking  to  his  most  intimate  friends : 
*'  one  thing  no  less  astonishing  than  scandalous,  is  to  see 
that,  since  the  pure  doctrine  of  the  gospel  has  been  brought 
to  light  (!),  the  world  daily  goes  from  bad  to  worse. ":{: 
This  is  not  at  all  astonishing,  when  we  consider  the  na- 
ture of  that  *'  pure  doctrine." 

He  draws  this  dreadful  picture  of  the  morals  of  his  time, 
after  "the  pure  doctrine  had  been  brought  to  light." 
'*  The  noblemen  and  the  peasants  have  come  to  such  a 
pitch,  that  they  boast  and  proclaim  without  scruple,  that 
they  have  only  to  let  themselves  be  preached  at;  but  that 
they  would  prefer  being  entirely  disenthralled  from  the 
word  of  God  :  and  that  they  would  not  give  a  farthing  for 
all  our  sermons  put  together.  And  how  are  we  to  lay  this 
to  them  as  a  crime,  when  they  make  no  account  of  the 
world  to  come  ?  They  live  as  they  believe  :  they  are  and 
continue  to  be  sv/ine :  they  live  like  swine  and  they  die 
like  real  swine. "§  Aurifaber,  the  disciple  and  bosom 
friend  of  Luther,  and  the  publisher  of  his  Table  Talk, 
tells  us,  that  *'  Luther  was  wont  to  say,  that  after  the  re- 
velation of  his  gospel,  virtue  had  become  extinct,  justice 

*  Supra,  chap.  iii.  f  Luther  in  Postilld  sup.  1  Dom.  Mventus. 

X  Idem,  Table  Talk,  fol.  55. 
§  Id.  super  i,  Epist.  Corinih.  ch.  xv. 

17* 


198  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed, 

oppressed,  temperance  bound  with  cords,  virtue  torn  in 
pieces  bj  the  dogs,  faith  had  become  wavering,  and  devotion 
had  been  lost."*  So  notoriously  immoral,  in  fact,  were 
the  early  Lutherans,  that  it  was  then  a  common  saying  in 
Germany,  to  express  a  day  spent  in  drinking  and  debauch : 
*' hodie  Lutheranice  vivemus^^ — "  to-day  we  will  live  like 
Lutherans."! 

In  another  place,  Luther  laments  the  moral  evils  of  the 
reformation,  in  the  following  characteristic  strain.  **  I 
would  not  be  astonished  if  God  should  open  at  length  the 
gates  and  windows  of  hell,  and  snow  or  hail  down  (up?) 
devils,  or  rain  down  on  our  heads  fire  and  brimstone,  or 
bury  us  in  a  fiery  abyss,  as  he  did  Sodom  and  Gomorrha. 
Had  Sodom  and  Gomorrha  received  the  gifts  which  have 
been  granted  to  us — had  they  seen  our  visions  and  heard 
our  instructions — they  would  yet  be  standing.  They  were 
a  thousand  times  less  culpable  than  Germany,  for  they  had 
not  heard  the  word  of  God  from  their  preachers.  And  we 
who  have  received  and  heard  it — we  do  nothing  but  rise 
up  against  God.  .  »  .  .  Since  the  downfall  of  popery,  and 
the  cessation  of  its  excommunications  and  spiritual  penal- 
ties, the  people  have  learned  to  despise  the  word  of  God. 
They  care  no  longer  for  the  churches;  they  have  ceased 
to  fear  and  to  honor  God. "J 

Martin  Bucer,  another  of  the  reformers,  bears  the  fol- 
lowing explicit  testimony  on  the  same  subject.  **  The 
greater  part  of  the  people  seem  to  have  embraced  the  gos- 
pel (!),  only  in  order  to  shake  off  the  yoke  of  discipline, 
and  the  obligation  of  fasting,  penances,  &c.,  which  lay  upon 
them  in  the  time  of  popery,  and  to  live  at  their  pleasure, 
enjoying  their  lust  and  lawless  appetite  without  control. 
They  therefore  lend  a  willing  ear  to  the  doctrine  that  we 

*  Aurifaber,  fol.  623 ;  and  Floriraond  Rernond,  p.  225. 
t  Bened.  Morgenstern — Traite  de  VEglise,  p.  221. 
X  Luther  Wercke  Edit.    Altenburg  tome   iii,  p.  519.    Reinhard's 
«'  Reformations  Predigten,"  torn  iii,  p.  445. 


INFLUENCE  OF  THE  REFORMATION  ON  MORALS.  199 

are  justified  by  faith  alone,  and  not  by  good  works,  having 
no  relish  for  them."*  The  reformers  ought  to  have  known 
what  was  the  real  tendency  of  the  new  gospel,  and  they 
certainly  had  no  motive  to  exaggerate. 

John  Calvin  draws  a  picture  not  much  more  flattering  of 
the  state  of  morals,  in  his  branch  of  the  **  glorious  refor- 
mation." He  states  that  even  the  preachers  of  the  new 
doctrines  were  notoriously  immoral.  *'  There  remains 
still  a  wound  more  deplorable.  The  pastors,  yes  the  pas- 
tors themselves  who  mount  the  pulpit  ....  are  at  the 
present  time  the  most  shameful  examples  of  waywardness 
and  other  vices.  Hence  their  sermons  obtain  neither  more 
credit  nor  authority  than  the   fictitious  tales  uttered  on 

the  stage  by  the  strolling  player I  am  astonished 

that  the  women  and  children  do  not  cover  them  with  mud 
and  filth."t 

Another  leading  reformer — Pliilip  Melancthon — informs 
us,  that  those  who  had  joined  the  standard  of  the  reforma- 
tion at  his  day  *Miad  come  to  such  a  pitch  of  barbarity, 
that  many  of  them  were  persuaded  that  if  they  fasted  one 
day,  they  would  find  themselves  dead  the  night  follow- 
ing."J  And  another  early  Protestant,  Jacob  Andreas, 
says :  "  It  is  certain  that  God  wishes  and  requires  of  his 
servants  a  grave  and  Christian  discipline ;  but  it  passes 
with  lis  as  a  new  papacy,  and  a  new  monkery. "§  And 
no  wonder,  after  all  the  teaching  on  the  subject  of  Luther 
and  the  other  leading  reformers  ! 

Such  then  were  the  moral  effects  of  the  reformation, 
according  to  the  testimony  of  the  reformers  themselves. 
They  are  surely  unexceptionable  witnesses  in  the  matter. 
We  might  allege  a  multitude  of  other  authorities  to  the 
same  effect,  from  Capito,  Sturm,  Judith,  and  other  early 
reformers  and  leading  Protestants ;  but  those  already  ad- 

*  •'  De  regno  Christi."  f  Livre — sur  les  scandales — p.  128. 

X  In  vi,  cap.  Mathei. 

§  Comment,  in  St.  Lucam.  ch.  xxi,  anno  1583, 


200  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

duced  will  prove  to  the  satisfaction  of  every  impartial 
mind,  that  the  influence  of  the  reformation  on  morals  was 
most  injurious.^  The  reformers  professed  indeed  to  re- 
form the  church  in  doctrine  and  morals :  they  inveighed 
against  the  immorality  of  the  Catholic  priesthood,  whom 
they  abused  beyond  measure:  they  set  themselves  up  as 
patterns  for  the  world :  but  they  forgot  withal  to  reform 
themselves  and  their  disciples,  They  even  went  *'  daily 
from  bad  to  worse."  They  were  unmindful  of  the  admo- 
nition of  the  Saviour  :  "let  him  that  is  without  sin  among 
you  first  cast  a  stone."t 

Erasmus  has  well  described  this  change  for  the  worse 
in  the  morals  of  those  who  embraced  the  reformation. 
*'  Those  whom  I  had  known  to  be  pure,  full  of  candor 
and  simplicity,  these  same  persons  have  I  seen  afterwards, 
when  they  had  gone  over  to  the  sect  [of  the  gospellers), 
begin  to  speak  of  girls,  flock  to  games  of  hazard,  throw 
aside  prayer,  give  themselves  up  entirely  to  their  interests ; 
become  the  most  impatient,  vindictive,  and  frivolous ; 
changed  in  fact,  from  men  to  vipers.  I  know  well  what 
I  say.":t^  And  again;  "  I  see  many  Lutherans,  but  few 
evangelicals.  Look  a  little  at  these  people,  and  see 
whether  luxury,  avarice  and  lewdness,  do  not  prevail  still 
more  amongst  them,  than  among  those  whom  they  detest. 
Show  me  one  who  by  means  of  this  gospel  is  become  bet- 
ter. I  will  show  you  very  many,  who  are  become  worse. 
Perhaps  it  has  been  my  bad  fortune  :  but  I  have  seen  none 
who  have  not  become  v/orse  by  their  gospel. "§ 

The  testimony  of  Erasmus  is  above  suspicion.  Though 
he  continued  in  the  Catholic  church,  yet  he  was  the  early 
friend  of  Luther,  Melancthon  and  many  other  principal 
reformers,  and  he  had   himself  contributed  not  a  little — 

*  Those  who  may  wish  to  see  more  on  the  subject,  are  referred  to 
the  "Amicable  Discussion"  by  bishop  Trevern:  vol.  i,  p.  84  seqq. ;  anJ 
to  Audin's  "Lives  of  Luther  and  Calvin." 

f  St.  John  viii,  7.  J  Epist.  Traciibus  Germanicc  inferior  is. 

'  \  Idem.  Epist.  Anno  152G. 


INFLUENCE  OF  THE  REFORMATION  ON  MORALS.  201 

perhaps  onlj  indirectly  and  unintentionally — to  the  suc- 
cess of  the  pretended  reformation.  He  was  a  mild,  peace- 
able man,  who  liked  his  ease  more  than  any  thing  else, 
and  sought  to  please  both  sides,  but  succeeded  in  pleasing 
neither.  He  had  joined  in  the  outcry  against  the  Catholic 
priesthood  and  monks,  and  had  thereby  no  doubt  greatly 
aided  in  heightening  the  excitement  against  the  Catholic 
church.  The  proverb  was  current  in  Germany :  that 
*•  Erasmus  had  laid  the  egg,  and  Luther  had  hatched  it."* 
This  saying  perhaps  expressed  too  much ;  but  yet,  like 
most  popular  adages,  it  had  some  foundation  in  truth. 
The  famous  humanist  Reuchlin  seems  to  have  been  another 
of  those  wavering  and  uncertain  characters  which  can 
be  moulded  to  almost  every  thing  according  to  circum- 
stances. 

For  three  whole  centuries,  the  reformation  has  been 
exerting  its  moral  influence  in  Germany  and  northern 
Europe  What  have  been  the  practical  results  of  this  in- 
fluence ?  What  is  the  present  condition  of  those  Protes- 
tant countries  where  that  influence  has  been  least  checked, 
and  most  extended  and  permanent  ?  We  will  close  this 
chapter,  by  presenting  a  few  startling  facts  on  this  sub- 
ject from  the  works  of  two  recent  Protestant  travellers, 
Bremner  and  Laing.  Their  authority  in  the  matter  will 
scarcely  be  questioned  by  Protestants.  Themselves  bit- 
terly prejudiced  against  the  Catholic  church,  and  enamored 
with  the  reformation,  they  merely  state  what  they  saw 
and  ascertained,  during  a  long  residence  in  the  countries 
which  they  describe. 

Of  the  people  of  Protestant  Norway,  Mr.  Bremner  says : 
"  the  Norwegians  cannot,  with  justice,  be  described  as 
more  than  *  indifferently  moral,'  for  we  always  found 
amongst  them  a  greater  desire   to   take   advantage  of  a 

•  "Erasmus  hat  das  Ey  gelegt,  und  Luther  es  ausgebrutet."  An  old 
Lutheran  painting  represented  the  reformers  bearing  the  ark.  and  Eras- 
mus dancing  before  it  with  all  his  might. 


202 

stranger  than  in  an}-  other  part  of  Europe."*  In  regard 
to  chastity,  he  tells  us  that  the  statistical  returns  show 
that  out  of  every  five  children  which  are  born,  one  is  ille- 
gitimate— the  same  proportion  precisely,  in  this  widely 
scattered  and  rural  population,  as  in  "  the  densely  crowded 
and  corrupted  atmosphere  of  Paris."  Mr.  Laing  con- 
firms the  statement,  and  tells  us  of  one  country  parish  in 
particular  where,  "  without  a  town,  or  manufacturing  es- 
tablishment, or  resort  of  shipping,  or  quartering  of  troops, 
or  other  obvious  cause,"  the  proportion  of  illegitimate  to 
legitimate  children,  in  the  five  years  from  1826  to  1830, 
was  one  in  three.t 

Both  these  Protestant  travellers  tell  us,  moreover,  that 
in  Norway  the  Sunday  is  the  usual  day  for  dances,  for 
theatrical  and  other  public  amusements ;  and  Mr.  Laing 
accounts  for  this  singular  fact  by  the  universally  received 
interpretation,  in  the  pure  Lutheran  church,  of  the  scrip- 
tural words,  •*  and  the  evening  and  the  morning  made  the 
first  day."  Those  "pure  Lutherans"  keep  the  Sabbath 
from  midday  on  Saturday  to  the  noon  of  Sunday  !  The 
Lutheran  clergy,  they  likewise  inform  us,  pay  little  at- 
tention to  the  instruction  of  the  people.  In  proof  of  this 
negligence,  they  allege  the  fact  that  in  all  Norway  there 
are  only  three  hundred  and  thirty-six  parishes  with  resi- 
dent clergymen,  who  seldom  visit  their  scattered  people. 
They  also  complain  that  convicts  are  there  treated  more 
unmercifully  than  any  where  else. 

The  picture  they  draw  of  the  present  moral  condition 
of  Sweden   and    Denmark    is    still    less   flattering.     Mr. 

*  '<  Excursions  in  Denmark,  Norway,  and  Sweden,"  &,c.  By  Robert 
Bremner.     2  vols.  8vo,  London,  1840. 

t  The  works  of  Mr,  Laing  from  which  we  borrow  this  and  the  fol- 
lowing facts,  are  :  "  Journal  of  a  Residence  in  Norway  during  the  years 
1834,  1835,  1836,  made  with  a  view  to  inquire  into  the  moral  and  polit- 
cal  economy  of  the  country,  and  the  state  of  the  inhabitants,"  London, 
1S36  ;  "  A  Tour  in  Sweden  in  1838,"  London,  1839  ;  and  "  Notes  of  a 
Traveller,"  London,  1842.  These  works  are  all  ably  noticed  in  the 
Dublin  Review  for  May,  1S13. 


INFLUENCE  OF  THE  REFORMATION  ON  MORALS.    203 

Bremner  tells  us  that  in  the  female  house  of  correction  at 
Stockholm,  the  capital  of  Sweden,  he  found  thirty-eight 
prisoners  condemned  for  life,  "  nearly  all  of  whom  had 
been  convicted  of  the  too  frequent  crime  of  child  murder  !" 
Mr.  Laing  enters  at  great  length  into  the  subject  of 
Swedish  morality.  He  states,  and  proves  from  avouched 
statistical  returns,  that  Sweden  is  the  most  corrupt  and 
demoralized  country  in  Europe,  and  that  Stockholm  is 
the  most  debased  city  in  the  world.  Let  us  see  his  testi- 
mony. 

"It  is  a  singular  and  embarrassing  fact  that  the 
Swedish  nation,  isolated  from  the  mass  of  European  peo- 
ple, and  almost  entirely  agricultural  or  pastoral,  having, 
in  about  3,000,000  of  individuals,  only  14,925  employed 
in  manufactories,  and  these  not  congregated  in  one  or  two 
places,  but  scattered  among  2,037  factories,  having  no 
great  standing  army  or  navy,  no  external  commerce,  no 
afflux  of  strangers,  no  considerable  city  but  one,  and 
having  schools  and  universities  in  a  fair  proportion,  and  a 
powerful  and  complete  church  establishment,  undisturbed 
in  its  labors  by  sect  or  schism,  is,  notwithstanding,  in  a 
more  demoralized  state  than  any  nation  in  Europe^  more 
demoralized  even  than  any  equal  portion  of  the  dense 
manufacturing  population  of  Great  Britain.  This  is  a 
very  curious  fact  in  moral  statistics." 

He  proceeds  to  establish  this  "  curious  fact"  by  un- 
questionable statistical  evidence.  From  this  it  appears 
that,  in  1837,  26,275  persons  were  prosecuted  in  Sweden 
for  criminal  oflfences,  of  whom  21,262  were  convicted, 
being  one  to  every  one  hundred  and  fourteen  of  the  en- 
tire population  accused,  and  one  to  every  one  hundred  and 
forty  convicted  of  crimes  of  a  heinous  character.  In 
1836  the  number  so  convicted  was  one  out  of  one  hundred 
and  thirty-four  of  the  whole  population.  Among  the 
crimes  in  the  rural  population,  there  were  twenty-eight 
cases  of  murder,  ten  of  child  murder,  four  of  poisoning, 
tliiiteen  of  bestiality,  and   nine  of  violent  robbery:  and 


204  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

the  proportion  was  four-fold  greater  for  the  town  and  city 
population.  England  is  bad  enough  ;  one  would  have 
thought  that  England  could  scarcely  be  surpassed  in 
crime  of  every  description  ;  but  yet  in  England  the  pro- 
portion of  the  convicted  to  the  entire  population  is  only 
as  one  to  one  thousand  and  five.  The  amount  of  crime  in 
Sweden  is  thus  seven-fold  greater  than  in  England  !  Is 
it  because  there  the  reformation  was  more  unchecked  in 
its  operations  ? 

According  to  Mr.  Laing,  the  proportion  of  illegitimate 
to  legitimate  children  for  all  Sweden,  is  as  one  to  four- 
teen ;  and  for  the  capital,  Stockholm,  it  is  as  one  to  two 
and  three-tenths  ! !  In  the  same  city  one  out  of  every 
forty-nine  of  the  inhabitants  is  annually  convicted  of 
some  criminal  ofience  !  !  And,  what  is  more  startling 
yet,  Mr.  Laing  proves  that  a  house  of  ill- fame  was  estab- 
lished, and  duly  fitted  out,  in  Stockholm,  by  authority  of 
government !  ! 

When  these  statements  of  Mr.  Laing  appeared,  the 
Swedish  government  attempted  to  refute  them  by  a  paraph- 
let  published  in  London.  This  drew  from  him  a  "  Re- 
ply," in  which  he  triumphantly  established  all  the  state- 
ments he  had  previously  made,  and  exhibited,  in  the 
avouched  statistics  of  the  year  1838,  others  still  more  ap- 
palling. "  The  divorces  of  this  year  were  147  ;  the  sui- 
cides 172.  Of  the  2,714  children  born  in  Stockholm  that 
year,  1,577  were  legitimate,  1,137  illegitimate,  making 
only  a  balance  of  440  chaste  mothers  out  of  2,714,  and 
the  proportion  of  illegitimate  to  legitimate  children,  not 
as  one  to  two  and  three-tenths,  as  he  had  previously 
stated,  but  as  one  to  one  and  a  half! !" 

Prussia  is  another  country  of  Europe  in  which  the  re- 
formation has  had  unchecked  sway  for  centuries.  Mr. 
Laing  discourses  of  its  moral  condition  as  follows — the 
**  index  virtue"  of  which  he  speaks  is  female  chastity  : 
*'  Will  any  traveller,  will  any  Prussian  say  that  this  in- 
dex virtue  of  the  moral  condition  of  a  people  is  not  lower 


INFLUENCE    OF    THE    REFORMATION    ON    MORALS.       205 

in  Prussia  than  in  almost  any  part  of  Europe  ?  It  is  no 
uncommon  event  in  the  family  of  a  respectable  trades- 
man of  Berlin  to  find  upon  his  breakfast  table  a  little 
baby,  of  which,  whoever  may  be  the  father,  he  has  no 
doubt  at  all  about  the  maternal  grand-father.  Such  acci- 
dents are  so  common  in  the  class  in  which  they  are  least 
common  Math  us — the  middle  class,  removed  from  igno- 
rance or  indigence — that  they  are  regarded  but  as  acci- 
dents, as  youthful  indiscretions,  not  as  disgraces  affect- 
ing, as  with  us,  the  respectability  and  happiness  of  all  the 
kith  and  kin  for  a  generation." 

In  a  note,  he  gives  the  following  statistical  facts  on  this 
subject:  **  In  1837,  the  number  of  the  females  in  the 
Prussian  population  between  the  beginning  of  their  six- 
teenth and  the  end  of  their  forty-fifth  year — that  is,  within 
child-bearing  age — was  2,983,146;  the  number  of  ille- 
gitimate children  born  in  the  same  year  was  39,501  ;  so 
that  one  in  every  seventy-five  of  the  whole  of  the  females 
of  an  age  to  bear  children  had  been  the  mother  of  an  ille- 
gitimate child."  He  adds:  "Prince  Puckler  Muskau 
(a  Prussian)  states  in  one  of  his  late  publications  (Siidost- 
licher  Bildersaal,  3  Thel.  1841)  that  the  character  of  the 
Prussians  for  honesty  stands  lower  than  that  of  any  other 
of  the  German  populations." 

When  we  weigh  well  all  these  facts,  and  remember  also 
that  from  a  parliamentary  report,  made  two  years  ago,  it 
appeared  that  in  Protestant  London  upwards  of  80,000 
females  had  forgotten  to  be  virtuous,  we  will  be  enabled 
to  estimate  properly  what  has  been  the  moral  influence  of 
the  reformation. 


CHAPTER    IX. 


THE  INFLUENCE  OF  THE  REFORMATION  ON  PriBLIC  WORSHIP. 

General  influence  of  the  reformation  on  worship — Audin's  picture  of  it 
— Luther  rebukes  violence — But  wavers — Giving  life  to  a  skeleton — 
Taking  a  leap — Mutilating  the  sacraments — New  system  of  Judaism 
— Chasing  away  the  mists — Protestant  inconsistencies — A  dreary 
waste — No  altars  nor  sacrifice — A  land  of  mourning — Protestant 
plaints — And  tribute  to  Catholic  worship — A  touching  anecdote — 
Continual  prayer — Vandalism  rebuked — Grandeur  of  Catholic  wor- 
ship— Churches  always  open — Protestant  worship — The  Sabbath 
day — Getting  up  a  revival — Protestant  music  ami  pra3'er — The  pew 
system — The  fashionable  religion — The  two  forms  of  worship  com- 
pared— St.  Peter's  church — The  fine  arts. 

In  nothing  perhaps  was  the  influence  of  the  reformation 
more  pernicious,  than  in  tlie  changes  which  it  caused  to  be 
introduced  into  public  worship.  It  stripped  the  ancient 
Catholic  service  of  all  its  beauty  and  simple  grandeur: 
it  dried  up  the  deep  fountains  of  its  melody — hushed  its 
organs,  muffled  its  bells,  and  put  out  its  lights.  It  rudely 
tore  away  the  ornaments  of  its  piiesthood,  stripped  its 
altars,  and  chased  away  the  clouds  of  its  ascending  in- 
cense. It  did  more.  It  destroyed  the  beautiful  paintings 
and  sculptures,  with  which  art,  paying  tribute  to  religion, 
had  decorated  the  walls  of  her  churches ;  it  entirely  re- 
moved those  sacred  emblems  of  piety.  Tearing  them  in 
shreds  or  breaking  them  in  pieces,  it  gave  them  to  the 
flames,  and  then  scattered  their  ashes  to  the  winds.  And, 
as  if  these  feats  of  vandalism  were  not  enough  to  prove  its 
burning  zeal  for  religion,  it  aimed  a  mortal  blow  at  the 
very  substance  of  worship:  it  abolished  the   daily  sacri- 


EFFECTS   OF  THE  REFORM  ON  WORSHIP.  207 

fice,  removed  the  altars,  and  annihilated  the  priesthood. 
And  then,  exhausted  with  its  labors,  Protestantism  lay 
down  and  fell  asleep  amidst  the  ruins  it  had  caused  !* 

M.  Audin  gives  the  following  graphic  description  of 
the  effects  of  early  reformation  zeal  on  public  worship. 
"Throughout  the  whole  of  Saxony,  no  more  canticles 
were  heard ;  no  more  incense,  no  more  lights  on  the  al- 
tars, no  more  organs  combining  their  melody  with  the 
infant's  hymn,  or  sacerdotal  anthem.  The  church  walls 
were  bare;  the  light  had  no  longer  to  steal  throu8;h  the 
painted  windows,  for  they  had  all  been  broken,  under  the 
pretext  that  they  favored  idolatry.  The  Protestant  temple 
resembled  every  thing  but  the  house  of  God.  The  mag- 
nificence and  poetry  of  Catholic  worship,  the  loss  of  which 
modern  Protestants  deplore,  every  where  disappeared."! 

Luther  at  first  disapproved  of  the  intemperate  zeal  of 
Karlstadt  and  other  hotheaded  disciples,  who,  during  his 
absence  from  Wittemberg,  had  abolished  the  mass,  and 
removed  by  violence  the  paintings  and  statues  from  the 
church.  Yet  his  disapproval  did  not,  it  would  seem,  pro- 
ceed so  much  from  a  horror  of  the  act  itself,  as  of  the  vio- 
lence which  had  attended  it;  and  more  particularly  irom 
the  circumstance,  that  this  innovation  had  taken  place 
without  his  having  been  previously  consulted.  In  his 
harangue  against  those  new  Iconoclasts,  he  said  :  "you 
ought  to  know  that  you  are  to  listen  to  no  one  but  to  me. 
With  the  help  of  God,  Doctor  Martin  Luther  has  advanced 
first  in  the  new  way;  the  others  followed  after  him  :  they 
ought  to  exhibit  the  docility  of  disciples,  as  their  duty  is 
to  obey.  It  is  to  me  that  God  has  revealed  his  word ;  it 
is  out  of  my  mouth  that  it  has  proceeded    free  from  all 

stain Was  I  at  such  a  distance  that  I  could  not 

be  consulted  ?     Am  I  no  longer  the  source  of  pure  doc- 

*  «'  Le  Protestantisme  fatigue  s'est  endormi  sur  des  mines  !"  Abbe 
De  Larneiinais. 

t  Life  of  Luther,  p.  331. 


208  d'aubione's  history  reviewed. 

trine?  .  .  .  .  It  is  neither  commanded  nor  prohibited  to 
keep  images.  I  wish  that  superstition  had  not  introduced 
them  amongst  us ;  but  however,  they  ought  not  to  be  re- 
moved by  tumult."* 

But  Luther,  however  he  might  deplore,  could  not  curb  the 
destructive  spirit  of  his  disciples.  He  could  not  prevent 
them  from  wielding  the  weapons  himself  had  placed  in  their 
hands.  He  could  not  control  the  storm  which  he  himself 
had  put  in  motion.  The  work  of  destruction  went  on,  till 
scarce  a  vestige  of  the  venerable  and  time  honored  Catho- 
lic worship  remained  behind.  He  himself  was  uncertain 
and  wavering,  as  to  the  portion  of  Catholic  worship  he 
should  retain.  The  people  of  Wittemberg  murmured, 
when  the  chapter  of  the  church  of  All  Saints  in  that  city 
abolished  the  mass.  Luther  restored  it :  not  however  as 
a  sacrifice,  but  as  a  mere  popular  symbol.  He  took  from 
it  the  oft'ertory  and  the  canon,  and  all  the  forms  of  sacri- 
fice ;  while  he  retained  the  elevation  of  the  bread  and  wine 
by  the  priest,  the  sacerdotal  salutation  to  the  assistants, 
the  mixture  of  water  and  wine,  and  the  use  of  the  Latin 
language."! 

To  enliven  somewhat  this  mutilated  skeleton  of  the  old 
service,  he  retained  many  of  the  Catholic  proses  and 
hymns,  uniting  with  them  some  compositions  of  the  old 
German  poets.  "He  himself  composed  some  to  replace 
our  hymns  and  proses,  which  are  precious  monuments  of 
the  poetry  of  the  early  ages  of  Catholicism.  Those  sweet 
and  simple  melodies  which  were  by  turns  joyous  and  aus- 
tere, gay  and  melancholy,  according  to  the  occasion,  were 
now  replaced,  in  the  Protestant  churches,  by  a  monotonous 
drawl.  The  reformed  church  thus  lost  the  poems,  inspi- 
rations and  symbols  of  the  Catholic  muse."J 

The  liturgy  was  not  the  only  subject  on  which  the  re- 

*  Apud  Audin,  Ibid.  pp.  237,  23S.  f  Audin,Ibid.  p.  333. 

X  Ibid.  For  some  beautilul  and  cbarmin<5  reflections  on  this  subject, 
see  an  article  "on  prayer  and  prayer-books,"  in  a  late  number  of  the 
Dublin  Review. 


EFFECTS  OF  THE  REFORM  ON  WORSHIP.       209 

former  hesitated.  His  whole  career  in  fact  is  marked  with 
hesitancy  and  doubt,  as  to  what  he  should  reject,  and  what 
he  should  retain,  of  the  old  Catholic  institutions.  He 
found  himself  often  in  trying  and  difficult  positions.  His 
disciples  sought  to  drag  him  down  the  declivity  of  reform 
faster  than  the  sturdy  monk  wished  to  travel.  Some- 
times he  listened  to  their  clamors;  sometimes  he  sternly 
rebuked  them  for  their  too  ardent  zeal.  Hence  his  per- 
petual inconsistencies.  On  the  subject  of  auricular  con- 
fession, he  contradicted  himself  more  than  once:  at  times 
he  recognized  its  divine  origin,  and  proclaimed  its  great 
utility  to  society:  again  he  would  call  it  the  invention  of 
Satan,  and  **  the  executioner  of  consciences."*  He  be- 
trayed similar  doubts  and  inconsistencies  as  to  the  num- 
ber of  the  sacraments  instituted  by  Christ.  He  stood  on 
the  brink  of  a  precipice,  and  yielded  at  times  to  dizziness, 
ere  he  took  the  fatal  leap  from  the  summit  level  of  Catho- 
licity, into  the  yawning  abyss,  the  boiling  and  hissing  noise 
of  whose  troubled  waters  already  grated  on  his  ears  ! 

But  his  disciples  were  not  so  scrupulous.  They  boldly 
rejected  five  out  of  the  seven  sacraments,  and  even  strip- 
ped the  two  they  retained — baptism  and  theLord's  Sup- 
per— of  every  life  giving  principle.  They  did  not  any 
longer  view  them  as  the  channels  of  grace,  through  which 
the  waters  of  life  eternal  flow  into  the  soul  of  the  Christian. 
This  they  rejected  with  horror  as  a  popish  superstition. 
They  denied  that  the  sacraments  had,  from  the  design 
and  institution  of  Christ,  any  intrinsic  efficacy  whatever  : 
they  were  the  mere  external  symbols  of  a  grace,  which 
they  were  not  the  instruments  for  imparting.  They  were 
mere  signs  and  figures,  lifeless  in  themselves,  and  usefu 
and  available,  only  through  and  in  proportion  to  the  faith 
and  other  acts,  of  the  recipient.  In  fact  they  were  brought 
down,  in  every  respect,  to  a  level  with  the  ancient  Jewish 

*  See  his  Treatise— De  ratione  confitend!,    Tom.  >i,  edit.  Altenb 
Tom.  i,  opp.  edit.  Jena. 
18* 


210  d'audione*s  history  reviewed. 

types  and  figures;  and  like  them,  they  were  mere  "weak 
and  needy  elements."* 

They  were  even  inferior  to  these,  in  point  of  appro- 
priateness and  significancy,  as  figures.  Was  not  the  Jew- 
ish eating  of  the  paschal  lamb  **  of  one  year  old  and  with- 
out stain,"  a  much  more  lively  and  appropriate  type  of  the 
death  of  Christ — *'  the  Lamb  of  God  who  takes  away  the 
sins  of  the  world" — than  the  symbols  of  mere  bread  and 
wine  ?  What  aptitude  is  there,  in  fact,  in  bread  to  be  a 
figure  of  flesh,  or  even  in  wine  which  is  often  colorless,  to 
be  a  figure  of  blood  ?  Had  Christ  intended  a  mere  figure, 
would  be  not  have  selected  more  appropriate  emblems? 
Did  he  mean  to  bring  back  the  Christian  religion,  which 
he  watered  with  his  own  blood,  to  the  mere  standard  of 
Judaism — did  he  mean  to  lower  it  even  beneath  this  stan- 
dard ?  Did  he  institute  a  religion,  the  distinguishing  ordi- 
nances of  which  should  be  nothing  more  substantial  than 
the  Jewish  tropes  and  figures  ?  Was  it  to  be  still  enveloped 
in  that  dense  mist  which  had  overhung  the  ark  of  the  cove- 
nant, and  the  institutions  of  the  Jewish  religion  ?  Or  did 
he  not  rise,  as  '*  the  Sun  of  Justice,"  to  chase  away 
those  mists  which  darkened  the  twilight  of  the  Jewish  types, 
and  to  usher  in  the  clear,  cloudless  day  of  living  and 
breathing  realities? 

Luther  had  retained  indeed  a  belief  in  the  real  presence, 
blended,  however,  with  the  palpable  absurdity  of  consub- 
stantiation,  by  which  he  maintained  the  simultaneous 
presence  of  the  substances  of  the  bread  and  wine  with  the 
body  of  Christ.  But  even  the  disciples  of  the  reformer 
have  long  since  rejected  this  monstrous  system.  After 
six  different  modifications  of  their  creed  on  the  subject,  to 
suit  the  tastes  or  to  meet  the  objections  of  the  Sacramen- 
tarians,  they  have  at  length  quietly  coalesced  with  their 
former  opponents  ;  and  the  doctrine  of  the  real  presence 
has   thus  grown  almost,  if  not  entirely,  obsolete  among 

*  Galatiaiis,  iv^  9. 


EFFECTS    OF    THE    REFORM    ON    WORSHIP.  211 

Protestants.*  Thus  throughout  the  land  of  Protestant- 
ism this  beautiful  doctrine,  which  gives  a  sublime  charac- 
ter to  the  Catholic  worship,  and  is  a  key  to  all  its  magni- 
ficent ceremonials,  has  been  utterly  banished.  The  Pro- 
testant church  and  worship  are  no  longer  ennobled  and 
vivified  by  this  life-giving  presence  of  the  Word  made 
flesh.  Christ  is  banished  from  his  holy  temple  :  he  is  no 
longer  in  the  midst  "  of  the  children  of  men,"  where  he 
ere  while  delighted  to  dwell.  And  Protestantism  presents, 
in  its  bleak  and  dreary  waste,  a  sad  proof  of  his  absence  ! 
It  is  a  land  "of  closed  churches  and  hushed  bells,  of  un- 
lighted  altars  and  unstoled  priests  !"t 

No — its  condition  is  yet  more  deplorable.  It  has  not 
even  "  unlighted  altars:"  it  has  no  altars  at  all.  Its 
altars  fell  under  the  same  fell  stroke  which  annihilated  its 
sacrifice  :  *'  Sacrifice  and  oblation  is  cut  off  from  the 
house  of  the  Lord  ;  the  priests,  the  Lord's  ministers, 
have  mourned  ;  the  country  is  destroyed  ;  the  land  hath 
mourned. "J  This  land  of  mourning,  from  which  even 
*'  the  priests,  the  Lord's  ministers,"  have  been  banished, 
has  been  reposing  for  **  many  days"  "without  sacrifice, 
and  without  altar,  and  without  ephod,  and  without  thera- 
phim."§ 

Where  is  there  to  be  found,  in  the  land  of  Protestant- 
ism, that  clean  oblation  foretold  by  God's  holy  prophet: 
*'  for  from  the  rising  of  the  sun,  even  to  the  going  down, 
my  name  is  great  among  the  gentiles,  and  in  every  place 
there  is  sacrifice,  and  there  is  offered  to  my  name  a  clean 
oblation;  for  my  name  is  great  among  the  gentiles,  saith 
the  Lord  of  hosts  ?"||     Where  that  altar  which  St.  Paul 

*  For  a  full  and  well  written  account  of  these  variations  of  Lutiier- 
anism  on  the  subject  of  the  eucharist,  and  for  an  account  of  the  singular 
manner  of  the  coalition  indicated  in  the  text,  see  Moore's  "Travels  of 
an  Irish  Gentleman,"  &,c.  p.  202  and  p.  193. 

t  W.  Faber  (a  Protestant),  "  Sights  and  Thoughts  in  foreign 
Churches." 

X  Joel  i,  9,  10.  §  Ogea  iii,  4.  ||  Malachy  i,  2. 


212  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

assures  us  the  early  Christians  had:  "We  have  an  altar 
whereof  they  have  no  power  to  eat  who  serve  the  taberna- 
cle ?"*  Until  Protestantism  appeared,  with  its  blighting 
influence  on  worship,  who  ever  heard  of  a  religion,  Chris- 
tian, or  even  pagan,  the  very  essence  of  which  did  not 
consist  in  an  external  sacrifice  ?  In  this  respect  Protest- 
antism hRS  protested  against  the  unanimous  voice  of  man- 
kind. And  we  have  already  seen  from  ivhoin  Luther  first 
learned  the  reasons  for  this  protest,  and  how  eagerly  he 
seized  and  acted  on  them.t 

With  the  sacrifice,  the  priesthood,  and  the  altar,  fell 
also  the  splendid  worship  with  which  they  were  connected. 
Protestants,  even  those  of  Germany,  are  now  beginning 
to  appreciate  and  to  deplore  this  desecration  of  God's 
holy  sanctuary,  and  this  desolation  of  his  vineyard  ;  and 
their  voice  of  wailing  has  been  re-echoed  by  the  Puseyites 
in  England.  We  will  give  a  few  instances  of  this  splen- 
did tribute  paid,  by  late  Protestant  writers  in  Germany, 
to  the  substance  and  forms  of  the  splendid  old  Catholic 
worship. 

Isidore,  Count  Von  Loeben,  exclaims  :  ''Admirable  cer- 
emonial, replete  with  harmony  !  It  is  the  diamond  which 
glitters  on  the  crown  of  faith  !  Whoever  has  a  poetic 
spirit  must  feel  a  tendency  to  Catholicism  !"J  Elsewhere 
he  says  :  **  The  Catholic  church,  with  its  ever  open  door, 
with  its  undying  lamps,  with  its  joyful  or  mournful  strains, 
its  hosannas  or  its  lamentations,  its  hymns,  its  masses,  its 
festivals  and  reminiscences,  resembles  a  mother,  who  ever 
holds  forth  her  arms  to  receive  the  prodigal  child.  It  is  a 
fountain  of  sweet  water,  around  which  are  assembled  mul- 
titudes, to  imbibe  vigor,  health,  and  life."§ 

Another  German  Protestant  breaks  forth  into  this  ex- 
clamation :  "  How  beautiful  is  its  music !  How  it  ad- 
dresses both  mind   and   sense  !     Those  melodious  notes 

*  Heb.  xiii,  10.  f  Supra,  chap.  1. 

X  In  his  Lotosblitter,  1817.  §  Ibid.  p.  1. 


EFFECTS  OF  THE  REFORM  ON  WORSHIP.        213 

and  voices,  those  canticles  which  breathe  so  pure  a  spirit- 
uality, those  clouds  of  incense,  those  chimes  which  a  dis- 
dainful philosophy  condescends  to  despise — all  these 
please  God.  Architects  and  sculptors  !  you  have  acted 
wisely,  and  ennobled  your  art,  by  raising  churches  to  the 
Divinity."* 

Another,  E.  Spindler,  thus  praises  a  beautiful  custom 
peculiar  to  Catholicity :  **  It  is  not  only  an  ancient,  but  a 
beautiful  custom,  to  encircle  the  graves  of  the  dead  on  the 
first  and  second  of  November.  The  peasants  of  the  vil- 
lages hasten  to  the  cemeteries :  they  kneel  by  a  wooden 
cross,  or  other  such  funeral  oinaments.  They  think  on 
the  past,  on  the  shortness  of  human  life.  Then  the  de- 
parted are  crowned  with  flowers,  to  signify  the  life  that 
will  never  end.  The  lamp  burns  to  remind  us  of  the  light 
which  shall  never  be  obscured  !"t 

Another  relates  the  following  touching  anecdote:  *' I 
saw  also  a  Franciscan  kneeling  before  a  fresco  painting  of 
Christ  on  the  walls  of  the  cloister,  which  was  admirable 
for  its  truth  and  beauty  of  expression.  On  hearing  me 
approach,  he  rose  up.  *  Father,  that  is  really  beautiful.' 
*  Yes  ;  but  the  original  is  still  more  so,'  said  the  monk, 
smiling.  *  Then  why  make  use  of  a  material  image  in 
prayer!'  'I  see,' said  he,  '  that  you  are  a  Protestant; 
but  do  you  not  see  that  the  arlist  modulates  and  ennobles 
the  fantasies  of  my  own  imagination  ?  Have  you  not 
always  experienced  that  this  faculty  calls  up  a  thousand 
different  forms  .^  Permit  me  to  prefer,  when  there  is 
question  of  images,  the  work  of  a  great  master  to  the  cre- 
ation of  my  own  fancy.'  I  was  silent,"  concludes  the 
writer.:}: 

In  one  of  his  works, §  Clausen,  another  Protestant,  pays 
the  following  willing  tribute  to  the  encouragement  of  con- 
tinual  prayer  by  the  Catholic  church:    "When   a  poor 

*  Labn.  Syst.  Theol.  p.  205.  f  Zeitspiegel,  1791. 

X  Ch.  Fr.  D.  Schubart— Leben  urid  Gesinnun^^en— Stuttgart.     1791. 

§  P.  790.     Apud  Audin,  p.  331. 


214  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

pilgrim,  wearied  with  fatigue,  but  light  of  heart,  kneels 
on  the  altar  steps  to  thank  Him  M'ho  has  watched  over  him 
during  a  long  and  perilous  journey ;  when  a  distracted 
mother  comes  into  the  temple  to  pray  for  the  recovery  of 
her  son,  whom  the  physicians  have  given  over;  when  in 
the  evening,  just  as  the  last  rays  of  the  sun  steal  through 
the  stained  glass  on  the  figure  of  a  young  female  engaged 
in  prayer,  when  the  flickering  lights  of  the  tapers  die 
away  on  the  pale  lips  of  the  clergy,  as  they  chaunt  the 
praises  of  the  Eternal : — tell  me,  does  not  Catholicism 
teach  us  that  life  should  be  one  long  prayer,  that  art  and 
science  ought  to  combine  to  glorify  God,  and  that  the 
church,  where  so  many  canticles  are  simultaneously 
hymned  forth,  where  devotion  puts  on  all  conceivable 
forms,  has  a  right  to  our  love  and  respect  ?" 

Finally,  another  thus  openly  censures  the  intemperate 
vandalism  of  the  reformers  in  destroying  the  most  beauti- 
ful portions  of  Catholic  worship :  **  How  blind  were  our 
reformers  !  While  destroying  the  greater  part  of  the  alle- 
gories of  the  Catholic  church,  they  believed  that  they 
were  making  war  on  superstitions  !  It  was  the  abuse  they 
ought  to  have  proscribed.''*  The  famous  Novalis  in  fact 
says  that  **  Luther  was  not  acquainted  with  the  spirit  of 
Christianity."!  Thus  have  the  children  borne  testimony 
against  their  fathers  in  the  faith  !± 

It  is  related  of  Frederick  II,  king  of  Prussia,  that  after 
having  assisted  at  a  solemn  high  mass  celebrated  in  the 
church  of  Breslau  by  cardinal  Zinzendorf,  he  remarked : 
*'  The  Calvinists  treat  God  as  an  inferior,  the  Lutherans, 
as  an  equal;  but  the  Catholics  treat  him  as  God."  And 
though  this  is  perhaps  too  strong  an  expression  of  the  dif- 
ference between  the  Catholic  and  the  Protestant  forms  of 
worship ;   yet  this   dift'erence  is  very  great  and   striking 

*  Fessler — Theresia  2,  p.  101. 

t  "  Luther  verkannte  den  geist  des  Christenthums." 
X  For  more  testimonies  of  Protestants  on  this  subject,  see  Jul.  H6- 
ninghaus  "  Das  Resultat  meiner  vvanderungen" — Aschalfenburg,  1S35. 


EFFECTS    OF    THE    REFORM    ON    WORSHIP.  215 

even  to  the  most  superficial  or  prejudiced  observer.  Who 
has  not  been  impressed  with  the  grandeur,  the  solemnity, 
and  the  noble  dignity  of  the  Catholic  ceremonial  ?  Who 
has  not  felt  a  sentiment  of  reverence  and  of  awe  come  over 
him,  when,  at  the  most  solemn  part  of  this  service,  the 
peal  o(  the  organ  ceases,  the  voice  of  music  is  hushed,  and, 
while  clouds  of  incense  are  ascending,  the  priests,  the 
ministers  and  the  people  fall  prostrate  in  silent  prayer  be- 
fore the  altar,  on  which  the  Lamb  is  present  '*  as  it  were 
slain  ?"  Who  has  not  felt  a  thrill  of  rapturous  emotion, 
when,  after  this  solemn  moment  has  passed,  the  music 
again  breaks  forth,  mingling  joyous  with  solemn  notes,  and 
pouring  forth  a  stream  of  melody  on  the  soul  !  Who  has  not 
been  struck  with  the  pathetic  simplicity,  the  unction,  and 
noble  grandeur  of  the  Gregorian  chaunt,  especially  in  the 
preface  of  the  Pater  Noster  !  And  who  has  not  marked 
the  reverent  avv^  with  which  Catholics  are  wont  to  assist 
at  the  service,  as  well  as  the  general  respect  they  pay  to 
the  church  of  God  ! 

In  Catholic  countries  the  church  is  ever  open,  inviting 
the  faithful  to  enter  at  all  hours,  and  to  pour  forth  their 
joys  or  their  sorrows  before  the  altar.  And  in  Rome  par- 
ticularly, enter  any  one  of  its  three  hundred  and  fifty 
churches  at  what  hour  you  may,  you  will  always  find  some 
persons  kneeling,  engaged  in  secret  prayer.  The  Catho- 
lic worship  is  not  confined  to  Sundays:  it  is  the  business 
of  every  daj,  and  there  is  accordingly  a  special  service 
for  every  day  in  the  year.  The  constant  round  of  festi- 
vals presents  to  the  minds  of  the  people,  with  dramatic 
effect,  the  most  interesting  portions  of  sacred  history,  as 
well  as  the  most  striking  incidents  in  the  lives  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin  and  of  the  saints  :  and  the  necessary  result 
is,  to  keep  these  things  constantly  fresh  in  the  memory. 
Finally,  the  Catholic  is  bound  by  the  law  of  his  church  to 
assist  at  divine  service,  and  to  hear  mass  every  Sunday 
and  festival  of  the  year,  and  thus  he  comes  constantly 
under  all  those  strong  beneficial  influences  of  his  religion. 


216  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

And  if,  notwithstanding  all  these  advantages,  he  is  still 
recreant  to  the  voice  of  conscience  and  of  duty,  it  is  surely 
from  no  lack  of  provision  for  his  spiritual  culture  on  the 
part  of  the  church.  She  shows  herself,  in  every  respect, 
the  tender  and  solicitous  mother. 

Do  the  multiplied  forms  of  worship  introduced  by  the 
reformation  possess  these  advantages  ;  or  do  they  combine 
these  happy  influences  ?  To  begin  with  that  last  named 
above :  is  it  not  a  saddening  reflection,  that  in  Protestant 
countries,  no  obligation  is  felt  to  attend  divine  service, 
even  on  Sundays  ^  Take  London  for  an  example  of  this. 
According  to  Colquhoun's  statistical  views  of  that  Pro- 
testant metropolis,  out  of  nearly  fifteen  hundred  thousand 
inhabitants,  about  one-third,  or  five  hundred  thousand  iiever 
attend  church  ;  and  another  third  attend  it  only  occa- 
sionally !  Of  the  remaining  third,  who  attend  regularly, 
more  than  half  are  Roman  Catholics. 

True,  in  our  own  country  the  case  is  somewhat  differ- 
ent: but  it  is  only  because  here  Protestantism  has  not  yet 
produced,  at  least  to  the  same  extent,  the  evil  fruits  of 
religious  indifference  and  of  infidelity,  which  it  has  never 
failed  to  yield  in  countries  where  it  has  been  long  estab- 
lished. But  even  here  it  is  daily  pioducing  them  more 
and  more;  and  each  succeeding  generation  will  necessa- 
rily deteriorate.  Look  at  Boston  and  N.  York,  where 
infidelity  has  already  boldly  raised  its  standard.  It  is 
only  by  almost  limiting  religious  service  to  the  Sunday — 
miscalled  the  Sabhath — and  by  continued  efforts  through 
the  press  and  the  pulpit  to  keep  up  even  an  exaggerated 
and  Jewish  feeling  of  reverence  for  this  da^^  among  the 
people,  that  any  thing  like  regular  attendance  on  Sunday 
service  is  obtained. 

In  fact,  according  to  the  gloomy  ideas  attached  by  cus- 
tom to  the  *'  Sabbath"  day,  the  people,  after  having  la- 
bored constantly*  through  the  six  days  of  the  week,  have 
no  other  place  of  social  meeting  but  at  the  meeting  house; 
and  they  have  no  alternative  but  to  repair  thither,  or  to 


EFFECTS    OF    THE   REFORM    ON    WORSIIIF.  217 

sit  down  moodily  and  inertly  at  home.  And  we  have  no 
doubt,  that  it  is  to  these  causes,  and  to  the  cutting  off  of 
all  sources  of  popular  amusement,  as  much  at  least  as  to 
zeal  for  religious  worship,  that  we  are  to  attribute  the  fre- 
quenting of  the  Protestant  places  of  public  service  in  the 
United  States. 

But  is  this  service  in  itself  inviting  or  impressive  ?  Has 
it  any  thing  in  it  to  stir  up  the  deep  fountains  of  feeling, 
to  call  forth  the  music  and  poetry  of  the  soul ;  to  convey 
salutary  instruction,  or  to  awaken  lively  interest  ?  We 
would  not  speak  lightly  or  irreverently  on  a  subject  so 
grave:  but  with  due  deference  to  the  feelings  of  our  dis- 
sentient brethren,  we  must  express  the  conviction,  that 
their  service  is  sadly  deficient  in  solemnity,  and  in  feel- 
ing; and  that  it  possesses  not  one  trait  of  grandeur  or 
sublimity.  It  has  not  one  element  of  poetry  or  of  pathos. 
Generally  cold  and  lifeless,  it  becomes  warm  only  by  a 
violent  effort,  and  then  it  runs  into  the  opposite  extreme 
of  intemperate  excitement. 

Can  its  music,  with  its  loud,  multiplied  and  discordant 
sounds,  compare  with  the  grave  and  solemn  melody  of  the 
Catholic  worship  ?  Can  its  long  extemporaneous  prayers, 
pronounced  by  a  minister  dressed  in  his  every -day  attire, 
and  often  interrupted  by  the  sharp  amens  and  discordant 
groans  of  his  hearers,  compare,  for  solemnity  and  effect, 
with  that  which  is  poured  forth  by  the  priest  at  the  altar, 
robed  in  the  venerable  uniform  of  eighteen  hundred  years' 
standing,  and  which  is  accompanied  by  those  of  the  people 
uttered  in  the  hushed  stillness  of  secret  devotion?  For 
our  parts,  we  greatly  prefer  calm  composure  and  sanctu- 
ary quietude  in  the  church,  to  noisy  prayer  and  almost 
boisterous  excitement.  The  Lord  does  not  usually  com- 
municate himself  in  the  whirlwind,  or  in  the  earthquake, 
or  in  the  raging  fire ;  but  in  the  breathing  of  the  gentle 
breeze.* 

*  See  iii  Book  of  Kin^.^,  ch.  xix,  v.  11,  12.  In  Prof,  version,  i  Book 
Kings. 

19 


218  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

Again,  in  Catholic  countries  there  is  no  pew  system. 
The  rich  and  the  poor,  the  prince  and  the  beggar,  the  re- 
fined princess  and  the  lowlj  peasant  girl — kneel  side  by 
side  on  the  same  pavement,  and  at  the  foot  of  the  same 
altar.  There  is  no  distinction  there  in  the  house  of  God. 
Is  it  so  in  Protestant  countries  ?  Has  not  the  pew  system, 
with  all  its  invidious  distinctions  of  rank,  with  its  luxuri- 
ous and  splendidly  cushioned  seats,  more  suited  for  lolling 
than  for  prayers,  obtained  universally  wherever  Protest- 
antism has  been  established  ?  And  has  not  the  natural 
and  necessary  effect  been,  to  introduce  worldly  notions 
even  into  the  house  of  God ;  and  to  make  church-going  a 
matter  of  fashion  and  respectability  ?  Do  not  many  people 
inquire,  before  they  embrace  a  religion,  which  is  the  most 
respectable  church  ? 

True,  in  countries  where  Protestants  are  most  nume- 
rous. Catholics  likewise  have  often,  we  humbly  think  very 
unfortunately,  borrowed  the  invidious  system  from  their 
neighbors :  but  candor  will  allow,  that  among  them  it  is 
not  pushed  to  the  same  extreme  as  among  Protestants.  It 
is  strongly  counteracted  in  its  evil  tendencies  among  them 
by  the  spirit  of  their  church. 

The  Catholic  ceremonial  has  been  designed  and 
planned  on  a  grand  scale:  it  exhibits  to  the  best  ad- 
vantage in  the  largest  churches ;  it  has  the  most  im- 
pressive and  sublime  effect  in  such  temples  as  St.  Mary 
Major's  and  St.  Peter's.  The  Protestant  service,  on  the 
contrary,  is  as  contracted  in  its  nature,  as  it  is  meager 
in  its  details,  and  cold  and  unimpressive  in  its  general 
effect.  It  is  wholly  out  of  place  in  a  very  extensive 
church.  In  St.  Paul's  church,  in  London,  it  is  confined 
to  one  segment  of  the  centre  aisle :  the  other  portions  of 
the  church  are  utterly  useless.  So  it  is  in  the  splendid  old 
cathedrals  of  England,  Ireland,  and  Scotland,  built  by  our 
Catholic  forefathers  on  the  grand  scale  of  the  Catholic 
worship,  but  now  occupied  as  Protestant  meeting-houses. 
In  the  Protectant  service  every  thing  is  for  the  ear,  and 


EFFECTS    OF    THE    REFORM    ON    WORSHIP.  219 

almost  nothing  for  the  eye:  in  the  Catholic,  all  the  senses 
are  addressed,  and  enchained. 

In  nothing  does  the  immense  distinction  between  the 
Catholic  and  the  Protestant  forms  of  worship  appear  more 
strikingly,  than  in  the  marked  difterence  in  the  structure, 
beauty,  and  ornaments  of  the  churches  in  which  they  are 
respectively  exhibited.  Where,  for  instance,  in  the  land 
of  Protestantism,  will  you  find  one  church  to  compare  in 
beauty  and  sublimity  with  St.  Peter's  at  Rome  ?  It  is  an 
architectural  monument  as  old  as  Protestantism,  and  much 
more  stable  and  permanent !  It  has  seen  hundreds  of  sects 
arise,  create  excitement  for  a  day,  and  then  die  away ; 
while  itself  has  continued  in  unfading  beauty — the  sub- 
lime emblem  of  unchanging  and  undying  Catholicity ! 
Not  one  of  its  stones  has  started  from  its  place :  not  one 
of  its  pillars  has  been  shaken  ;  not  one  of  its  arches  has 
been  broken!  It  stands  up  in  all  the  vigor  and  freshness 
of  youth — a  suitable  type  of  the  ever  blooming  and  virgin 
spouse  of  Christ,  "  without  spot,  without  wrinkle,  without 
blemish."*  Enter  its  portals,  and  your  soul  swells,  and 
becomes  *'  as  colossal  as  the  edifice  itself:"  you  involun- 
tarily exclaim :  **  truly,  this  is  the  house  of  God  and  the 
gate  of  heaven!"  The  fine  arts  have  here  been  lavish  of 
their  tribute  to  religion  and  to  God  :  and  they  speak 
silently,  but  eloquently,  of  the  principles  of  Christ,  of 
his  apostles,  and  of  his  saints.  Why  have  these  lovely 
arts  been  banished  from  the  Protestant  churches  ? 


To  gladden  the  nations  again  ? 

O  when  shall  the  flame  of  sweet  charity  burn. 

To  warm  the  cold  bosoms  of  men  ? 

When  the  angel  of  vengeance  hath  sheathed  his  sword. 
And  his  vials  have  drenched  the  land : 
When  the  pride  of  the  sophist  hath  bent  to  the  Lord, 
And  trembled  beneath  his  strong  hand." 

*  Ephesians,  chap,  v. 


CHAPTER    X. 


INFLUENCE     OF     THE     REFORMATION     ON     THE     EIBLE^,    ON     BIBLE 
READING,    AND    BIBLICAL    STUDIES. 

*'  By  various  texts  we  both  uphold  our  claim, 

Nay,  often  ground  our  lilies  on  the  same ; 

After  long  labors  lost  and  time's  expense, 

Both  grant  the  words,  and  quarrel  for  the  sense. 

Thus  all  disputes  forever  must  depend, 

For  no  dumb  rule  can  controversies  end."— Drj/ffen. 

"  Mark  you  this,  Bassanio : 
The  devil  can  cite  scripture  for  his  purpose." — Shakspeare. 

Protestant  boastings — Theory  of  M.  D'Aubigne — Luther  finds  a  Bible 
— How  absurd! — The  "chained  Bible" — Seckendorf  versus  D'Au- 
bigne — The  Catholic  church  and  the  Bible — The  Latin  Language — 
Vernacular  versions  before  Luther's — In  Germany — In  Italy — In 
France — In  Spain — In  England — In  Flanders — In  Sclavonia — In 
Sweden — In  Iceland — Syriac  and  Armenian  versions — Summary  and 
Inference — Polyglots — Luther's  false  assertion — Reading  the  Bible 
— Fourth  rule  of  the  index — A  religious  vertigo  remedied — More 
harm  than  good — Present  discipline — A  common  slander — Protestant 
versions — Mutual  compliments — V^ersion  of  king  James — The  Doway 
and  Vulgate  Bibles — Private  interpretation — German  Rationalism — 
Its  blasphemies — Rationalism  in  Geneva. 

Our  inquiry  into  tlie  influence  of  the  reformation  on 
religion  would  be  incomplete,  without  some  examination 
of  the  extent  of  this  influence  on  the  Bible,  and  on  the 
general  diffusion  of  Biblical  learning;.  It  is  one  of  the 
proudest  boasts  of  the  reformation,  to  have  rescued  the 
Bible  from  the  obscurity  to  which  the  Roman  Catholic 
church  had  consigned  it;  to  have  first  translated  it  into 
the  vernacular  tongues;  and  to  have  opened  its  hitherto 
concealed  treasures  of  heavenly  wisdom  to  the  body  of  the 


INFLUENCE  OF  THE  REFORM  ON  THE  BIBLE.  221 

people.  These  pretensions  have  been  so  often  and  so 
confidently  repeated,  as  to  have  passed  current  for  the 
truth,  even  with  many  persons  of  sincerity  and  informa- 
tion. And  so  firm  is  the  conviction  of  many,  that  the 
Catholic  church  studiously  concealed  the  sacred  writings 
from  the  multitude,  and  that  the  reformers  brought  them 
out  "  fmm  under  the  bushel"  to  be  a  light  to  the  nations ; 
that  it  is  exceedingly  difficult  to  remove  it,  even  by  the 
sternest  facts  and  the  most  overwhelming  evidence. 

The  theory  of  M.  D'Aubigne  on  this  subject  is  indeed 
strange,  but  it  has  not  the  merit  of  novelty.  IMany  a  cre- 
dulous and  drivelling  theologaster  had  often  before  woven 
the  same  tissue  of  absurd  speculation.  According  to  our 
historian  of  the  reformation,  Luther  owed  his  first  conver- 
sion to  Christianity  to  an  accidental  discovery  of  the  Bible 
in  the  Library  of  the  University  at  Erfurth.  '*  One  day'' 
(he  had  been  two  years  at  Erfurth,  and  was  twenty  years 
of  age)  "  he  was  opening  the  books  in  the  library  one  after 
another,  in  order  to  read  the  names  of  the  authors.  One 
which  he  opened  in  its  turn  drew  his  attention  :  he,  had  not 
seen  any  thing  like  it  till  that  hour :  he  reads  the  title,  it 
is  a  Bible,  a  rare  book,  zmJcnown  at  that  time!  His  in- 
terest is  strongly  excited:  he  is  filled  with  astonishment 
at  finding  more  in  this  volume  than  those  fragments  of  the 
gospels  and  epistles,  which  the  church  has  selected  to  be 
read  to  the  people  in  their  places  of  worship  every  Sunday 
in  the  year.  Till  then  he  had  thought  that  they  were  the 
whole  v/ord  of  God.  And  here  are  so  many  pages,  so 
many  chapters,  so  many  books,  of  which  he  had  no  idea ! 
His  heart  beats  as  he  holds  in  his  hand  all  the  scripture 
divinely  inspired.  With  eagerness  and  indescribable  feel- 
ings he  turns  over  those  leaves  of  the  word  of  God.  The 
first  page  that  arrests  his  attention,  relates  the  history  of 
Hannah  and  the  young  Samuel."* 

He  then  relates,  how   the  young  Luther  piously  re- 

*  Vol.  i,  p.  131. 
19* 


2^2  "  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

solved  to  imitate  the  devotedness  of  the  young  Samuel; 
and  continues:  *' the  Bible  that  had  filled  him  with  such 
transport  was  in  Latin.  He  soon  returned  to  the  library 
to  find  his  treasure  again.  He  read  and  re-read,  and  then 
in  his  surprise  and  joy  went  back  to  read  again.  The 
first  gleams  of  a  new  truth  then  arose  in  his  mind.  Thus 
has  God  caused  him  to  find  his  holy  word !  He  has  now 
discovered  the  book  of  which  he  is  one  day  to  give  to  his 
countrymen  that  admirable  translation,  in  which  the  Ger- 
mans for  three  centuries  have  read  the  oracles  of  God.  For 
the  first  time,  perhaps,  this  precious  volume  has  been  re- 
moved from  the  place  that  it  occupied  in  the  library  of 
Erfurth.  This  book,  deposited  on  the  unknown  shelves 
of  a  dark  room,  is  soon  to  become  the  book  of  life  for  a 
whole  nation.  The  reformation  lay  hid  in  that  Bible."* 
This  was  not  however  the  only  Bible  he  had  the  good 
fortune  to  find :  for  after  he  had  entered  the  convent  of 
Augustinians  at  Erfurth,  **  he  found  another  Bible  fastened 
by  a  cha]n."t 

M.  D'Aubigne  professes  to  borrow  all  this  fine  history 
from  Mathesius,  a  disciple  and  an  ardent  and  credulous 
admirer  of  liUther,  and  from  M.  Adam,  another  biogra- 
pher of  the  reformer.  It  is  a  story  absurd  enough  in  all 
conscience,  and  too  clumsily  contrived  even  for  a  well 
digested  romance.  What  ?  Are  we  to  believe  that  Luther, 
at  the  age  of  twenty,  did  not  know  that  there  was  a  Bible, 
until  he  chanced  to  discover  one  in  the  library  at  Erfurth  ? 
And  that  until  then  he  piously  believed,  that  the  whole 
scriptures  were  comprised  in  that  choice  selection  of  gos- 
pels and  epistles,  read  on  Sunday  and  festivals  in  the 
church  service  ?  He,  too,  a  young  man  of  great  talent  and 
promise,  who  had  successively  attended  the  schools  of 
Mansfeld,  Eisenach  and  Magdeburg,  and  had  already 
been  two  years  at  the  university  of  Erfurth  !  Credat  Ju- 
dseus  Jlpella  !   The  thing  is  utterly  incredible,  and  stamped, 

*  Ibid.  p.  132.  t  I'-^id-  r- 1^1- 


INFLUENCE  OF  THE  REFORM  ON  THE  BIBLE.  223 

with  absurdity  on  its  very  face.  Luther  must  have  been 
singularly  stupid  indeed,  had  he  remained  thus  ignorant. 
And  then  the  idea  intended  to  be  conveyed  by  the  chained 
Bible  !  Would  the  good  monks  have  enchained  it,  unless 
it  had  been  in  such  demand  with  the  people  as  to  endan- 
ger its  safety  .^  In  that  early  stage  of  the  art  of  printing, 
all  books  were  much  more  scarce  and  more  highly  prized 
than  at  present;  and  perhaps  then,  as  now,  borrowed 
books  were  seldoin  returned  to  the  owner. 

M.  D'Aubigne  in  the  course  of  his  history  repeatedly 
quotes  Seckendorf,  the  biographer  and  great  admirer  of 
Luther.  Did  he  never  chance  to  read  in  the  first  book  of 
this  writer's  "'Commentaries  on  Lutheranism,"  a  passage 
in  which  he  states,  that  three  distinct  editions  of  the  Bible, 
translated  into  German^  were  published  at  Wiftemberg,  in 
1470,  1483,  and  1490  :  one  of  them  seven  years  before 
the  birth  of  Luther,  another  in  the  very  year  of  his  birth, 
and  a  third  seven  years  thereafter?*  And  all  these  in  the 
immediate  vicinity  of  Luther's  birth  place;  not  to  men- 
tion another  edition,  which  the  same  author  assures  us,t 
was  published  not  far  distant, — at  Augsburg,  in  1518, 
just  one  year  after  Luther  had  turned  reformer,  and 
twelve  years  before  he  published  his  own  German  version 
of  the  Bible  !  How  could  M.  D'Aubigne  avoid  seeing  this 
passage  in  his  own  favorite  historian  for  reference :  and  if 
he  saw  it,  what  are  we  to  think  of  his  honesty  in  wholly 
concealing  it,  and  even  in  stating  what  is  plainly  contra- 
dicted by  it — that  "  the  Bible  was  then  an  unknown 
book ;"  and  that  Luther  never  saw  it  till  his  20th  year  ? 

The  Bible  then  an  unknown  book!  Who  preserved  this 
book  during  the  previous  fifteen  hundred  years  ?  From 
whom  did  the  reformers  receive  it  .^  Who  kept  it  safe 
through  all  dangers;  in  the  midst  of  conflagrations,  wars, 
and  the  torrents  of  barbarian  incursion  ?     Who  copied  it 

*  Commentarii  in  Luther.   Lib.  I,  sec.  51.  §  cxxv.  p.  204. 
t  Ibid. 


224  d'aubigne's  history  revievved. 

over  and  again,  before  the  art  of  printing  ?  The  Roman 
Catholic  church  did  all  this:  and  yet  she  is  to  be  accused 
of  having  concealed  this  book  of  life  from  the  people  !  But 
for  her  patient  labor,  vigilant  watchfulness,  and  maternal 
solicitude,  the  Bible  miglit  have  perished  with  thousands 
of  other  books :  and  yet  she,  forsooth,  was  an. enemy  of 
this  book,  and  wished  to  keep  it  under  a  bushel !  She 
read  choice  selections  from  it  to  her  people  every  Sunday 
and  festival,  even  according  to  the  avowfd  of  her  bitterest 
enemy,  M.  D'Aubigne;  and  yet  she  wished  to  conceal 
this  treasure  from  the  people  !  A  curious  way  of  conceal- 
ing it,  truly ! 

But  perhaps  she  preserved  it  in  the  Latin  tongue  only, 
and  was  opposed  to  its  general  circulation  in  the  living 
languages  of  Europe.  She  did  no  such  thing,  as  we  shall 
presently  see  ;  though  even  if  she  had  done  this,  she  would 
not  have  concealed  the  Bible  from  the  people.  The  Latin 
language  continued  to  be  that  which  was  most  generally 
understood,  and  even  spoken  in  Europe,  until  the  reign 
of  Charlemagne,  in  the  beginning  of  the  ninth  century: 
and  even  for  several  centuries  afterwards,  it  continued  to 
be  very  generally  known,  while  the  modern  languages 
were  strujro-linfj;  into  form.  At  the  beo-inning  of  the  six- 
teenth  century,  and  for  a  long  time  afterwards,  it  was  the 
only  language  of  literature,  of  theology,  of  medicine,  anti' 
of  legislation.  Most  of  the  modern  languages  of  Europe 
were  formed  from  it,  and  were  so  similar  to  it  both  in 
words  and  in  general  structure,  that  the  common  people 
of  Italy,  Spain,  Portugal,  and  even  France,  could  under- 
stand that  mother  tongue  without  great  ditFiculty.  In 
Hungary,  it  had  been  the  common  language  of  the  people 
since  the  da^'s  of  king  Stephen,  in  the  tenth  century.  It 
was  taught  and  studied  in  every  school  and  college  of 
Christendom,  and  it  was  the  medium  through  which  most 
other  branches  were  taught.  It  was,  then,  at  the  time  of 
the  reformation,  a  language  which  was  very  commonly  un- 
derstood  in   Europe.     Therefore,   even  if  the   Catholic 


INFLUENCE  OF  THE  REFORM  ON  THE  BIBLE.  225 

church  had  given  the  Bible  to  the  people  only  in  the  Latin 
vuIgate,  she  would  not  have  concealed  it;  lior  would  it 
have  remained  "an  unknovvn  book.*'  It  is  a  notorious 
fact,  that  one  of  the  first  books  published  after  the  inven- 
tion of  the  art  of  printing,  was  the  Latin  Bible.* 

But  it  is  well  ascertained,  that  long  before  the  reformat 
tion  of  Luther,  the  people  of  almost  every  country  in  Europe 
had  the  Bible  in  their  own  vernacular  tong-ues.  In  most 
nations,  there  was  not  only  one,  but  there  were  many  dif- 
ferent versions. 

We  begin  with  Germany,  the  theatre  of  the  reformation. 
We  have  already  seen  the  testimony  of  Seckendorf  on  the 
subject.  The  Germans  had  no  less  than  Jive  different 
versions  of  the  scriptures  into  their  own  language;  of 
which  three  were  previous  to  that  of  Luther  in  1530 ;  and 
two  were  contemporary  with,  or  immediately  subsequent 
to  it.  The  oldest  was  that  made  by  Ulphilas,  bishop  of 
the  Meeso- Goths  (now  Wallachians),  as  early  as  the  mid- 
dle of  the  fourth  century .t  This  version  seems  to  have 
been  used  for  several  centuries  by  many  of  the  older  Go- 
thic and  German  Christians.  The  second  version  was 
that  into  Teutonic  ascribed  to  Charlemagne  (beginning 
of  ninth  century),  probably  because  it  was  made  by  some 
learned  inan  under  his  direction.  Besides,  there  was  a 
very  old  rhythmical  paraphrase  of  the  four  gospels,  much 
used  in  Germany  from  the  time  of  the  first  emperor  Louis. 

The  third  German  version  was  a  translation  from  the 
Latin  vulgatebysome  person  unknown,  an  edition  of  which 
was  printed  as  early  as  the  year  1466:  two  copies  of  this 
edition  are  still  preserved  in  the  senatorial  library  at  licip- 
sic.  Before  the  appearance  of  the  German  Bible  of  Lu- 
ther, the  version  last  named  had  been  republished  in  Ger- 
many at  least  sixteen  times :  once  at  Strasburg,  five  times 

*  Hallam  proves  that  it  was  tlie  first  book  printed,  probably  in  the 
year  1455. — "  History  of  Literature,"  sup.  cit.  vol.  1,  p.  96. 
t  See  Home's  Introduction,  vol.  ii,  p.  240-5. 


226  d*aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

at  Nureraburg,  and  ten  times  at  Augsburg.  These  various 
editions  often  claimed  to  be  new  versions,  in  consequence 
of  the  improvements  they  professed  to  have  introduced  ' 
into  the  original  version  of  146G.  This  was  particularly 
the  case  with  the  edition  published  at  Augsburg  in  1477", 
and  also  with  that  at  Nuremburg  in  1483,  which  latter 
was  embellished  with  numerous  wood-cuts. 

Thus,  before  the  publication  of  Luther's  translation, 
there  had  been  in  Germany  no  less  than  three  distinct 
versions,  the  last  of  which  had  passed  through  at  least 
seventeen  different  editions.  Add  to  these  the  three 
editions  of  Wittemberg,  and  the  one  at  Augsburg,  men- 
tioned by  Seckendorf  above,  and  not  included  in  this  esti- 
mate, and  we  ascertain  that  the  Bible  had  already  been 
reprinted  in  the  German  language  no  le?s  than  twenty-one 
times,  before  liUther's  appeared.* 

In  1534,  John  Dietemberg  published  his  new  German 
translation  from  the  Latin  vulgate  at  Mayence,  under  the 
auspices  of  the  arch-bishop  and  elector,  Albert.  It  passed 
through  upwards  of  twenty  editions  in  the  course  of  a  hun- 
dred years,  four  of  which  appeared  at  Mayence,  and  seven- 
teen at  Cologne.  The  style  of  it  was  somewhat  unpolished, 
but  it  was  esteemed  a  faithful  translation.  In  1 537,  another 
Catholic  version  appeared  under  the  supervision  of  Doc- 
tors Emser  and  Eck,  the  two  learned  champions  of  Catho- 

*  These  facts,  and  those  that  will  follow  on  the  same  subject,  are  all 
established  by  the  learned  De  Long,  in  his  Bibliotheca  Sacra  (torn.  1,  p. 
854  seqq.  edit.  Paris  1723).  They  are  also  proved  by  a  Calvin ist  writer, 
David  Clement,  librarian  to  the  king  of  Prussia,  in  his  Bihlioiheque 
Curieuse,  &c.  (9  vols.  4to.  Gottingen  1750).  See  also  Geddes'  "Pros- 
pectus for  a  New  Translation,"  4to.  p.  103  seqq.,  and  Audin's  "  Life  of 
Luther,"  p.  216  seqq.  for  many  of  these  facts.  Also  a  learned  article 
on  the  subject  in  the  2d  No.  of  the  Dublin  Review,  where  most  of  the 
facts  we  have  alleged,  or  will  allege,  are  clearly  proved.  The  writer  of 
this  paper  has  however  omitted  Seckendorf 's  statement :  and  he  like- 
wise supposes  that  Luther's  version  appeared  only  in  1534;  whereas 
from  Seckendorf 's  detailed  account  of  it,  it  would  seem  to  have  beeu 
completed  in  1530. 


INFLUENCE  OF  THE  REFORM  ON  THE  BIBLE.  227 

licity  against  Luther.  This  version  likewise  passed 
through  many  editions. 

While  on  the  subject  of  German  Bibles,  we  maj  here 
remark,  though  it  does  not  come  exactly  within  our  present 
plan,  that  Gaspar  Ulenberg  published  a  new  version  in 
1630;  and  that  during  the  last  forty  years,  several  other 
new  versions  have  appeared  in  Catholic  Germany,  of 
which  those  of  Schwartzel  and  Brentans  are  the  most 
popular. 

The  facts  already  stated  prove  how  utterly  unfounded 
and  recklessly  false  is  the  statement  of  M.  D'Aubigne, 
that  before  the  reformation  "  the  Bible  was  an  unknown 
book."  They  demonstrate  triumphantly,  that  the  Catho- 
lics of  Germany  were  much  more  zealous  in  the  circula- 
tion of  the  scriptures,  than  the  self-styled  reformers,  with 
all  their  boasting  and  that  of  their  friends. 

But  we  will  pursue  this  line  of  argument  still  farther, 
and  prove,  on  the  unquestionable  authorities  referred  to 
above,  that  other  Catholic  countries  were  not  behind  Ger- 
many in  the  will  to  translate  the  scriptures  into  the  ver- 
nacular tongues,  and  to  circulate  them  among  the  people. 
In  fact,  there  is  not  a  country  in  Europe  in  which  the 
Bible  had  not  been  repeatedly  translated  and  published 
long  before  the  reformation. 

In  Italy,  there  were  two  versions  anterior  to  that  of 
Luther :  that  by  the  Dominican,  Jacobus  a  Voragine,  arch- 
bishop of  Genoa,  which  version,  according  to  the  testimony 
of  Sixtus  Senensis,*  was  completed  as  early  as  1290;  and 
that  by  Nicholas  Malermi,  a  Camalilolese  monk,  which 
was  first  printed  at  Rome  and  Venice  in  the  same  year, 
1471;  and  which  had  passed  through  thirteen  different  edi- 
tions before  the  year  1525.  This  was  also  reprinted  eight 
times  more  before  the  year  1567,  with  the  express  permis- 
sion of  the  Santo  Uffizio.  Almost  simultaneously  with 
that  of  Luther,  there  appeared  two  other  Italian  transla- 

*  Bibliolheca  sacra,  Tom.  1,  p.  397. 


228  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

tlons  of  the  Bible:  that  by  Antonio  Bruccioli*  in  1532, 
which  in  twenty  years  passed  through  ^e?i  editions ;  and 
that  by  Santes  Marmochino,  which  was  printed  at  Venice 
in  1538,  1546,  and  1547. 

The  oldest  French  version  of  the  Bible  was  that  byDes 
Moulins,  whose  **  Bible  Historyal" — almost  a  complete 
translation  of  the  Bible — appeared,  according  to  Usher, 
about  the  year  1478.  A  new  edition  of  it,  corrected  by 
Rely,  bishop  of  Angers,  was  published  in  1487,  and  was 
successively  reprinted  sixteen  different  times  before  the 
year  1546:  four  of  these  editions  appeared  at  Lyons,  and 
twelve  at  Paris.  In  1512,  Le  Fevre  published  a  new  French 
translation,  which  passed  through  many  editions.  A  re- 
vision of  the  version  was  made  by  the  divines  of  Lou  vain, 
in  1550,  and  was  reprinted  in  France  and  Flanders, 
thirty-nine  times  before  the  year  1700.  More  re- 
cently, a  great  variety  of  new  Catholic  versions  have 
appeared  in  France;  of  which  those  by  De  Sacy,  Cor- 
bin,  Amelotte,  Maralles,  Godeau,  and  liure,  are  tiie  most, 
celebrated. 

According  to  Mariana,  the  great  Spanish  historian,  the 
Bible  was  translated  into  Castilian  by  order  of  Alphonso 
the  Wise.  The  whole  Bible  was  translated  into  the  Va- 
lencian  dialect  of  the  Spanish,  in  the  year  1405,  by  Boni- 
face Ferrier,  brother  of  St.  Vincent  Ferrier.  It  was 
printed  in  1478,  and  reprinted  in  1515,  ivith  the  formal 
consent  of  the  Spanish  Inquisition.  In  1512  the  Epistles 
and  Gospels  were  translated  into  Spanisli  by  Ambrosio  de 
Montesma.  This  work  was  republished  at  Antwerp  in 
1544,  at  Barcelona  in  1601  and  1608,  and  at  Madrid  in 
1603  and  1615. 

In  England,  besides  the  version  by* the  venerable  Bede 
in  the  eighth  century,  and  that  partial  one  of  the  Psalms 


*  It  is  but  fair  to  say,  that  tliis  version  was  deemed  inaccurate,  and 
was  subsequently  suppressed  by  the  competent  authorities,  with  the 
consent  of  tho  author.     Marmochino  corrected  its  faults. 


INFLUENCE    OF    THE    REFORM    ON    THE    BIBLE.  229 

ascribed  to  Alfred  the  Great*  in  the  ninth,  there  was  a 
full  translation  of  the  whole  Bible  into  the  English  of  that 
period,  finished  about  the  year  1290,  long  before  the  ver- 
sion of  WicklifFe  in  the  fifteenth  century. 

In  the  year  706,  Adhelm,  first  bishop  of  Salisbury,  ac- 
cording to  the  testimony  of  the  Protestant  biblicist  Horn, 
translated  the  Psalter  into  Saxon.  At  his  persuasion  also, 
Egbert,  bishop  of  Lindisfarne,  translated  the  four  Gos- 
pels. In  the  fourteenth  century,  a  new  English  version  of 
the  whole  Bible  was  made  by  John  de  Trevisa.  In  the 
year  995,  Elfric,  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  translated 
into  English  the  Pentateuch,  Joshua,  Job,  the  Judges, 
Ruth,  part  of  the  books  of  Kings,  Esther,  and  the  Macca- 
bees.t 

The  Bible  was  translated  into  Flemish,  as  UsherJ  ad- 
mits, by  Jacobus  Merland,  before  the  year  1210.  Tliis 
version  was  printed  at  Cologne  in  1475,  and  passed 
through  seven  new  editions  before  the  appearance  of  Lu- 
ther's Bible  in  1530.  The  Antwerp  edition  was  repub- 
lished eight  times  in  the  short  space  of  seventeen  years. 
AVithin  thirty  years  there  were  also  published,  at  Antwerp 
alone,  no  less  than  ten  editions  of  the  New  Testament 
tianslated  by  Cornelius  Kendrick  in  1524.  In  the  course 
of  the  seventeenth  century  there  appeared  in  Flanders 
new  Catliolic  versions  by  De  Wit,  Laemput,  Schum,  and 
others.     All  these  were  repeatedl}'  republished. 

A  Sclavonian  version  of  the  Bible  was  published  at 
Cracow  in  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century.  In 
the  fourteenth  century  the  Bible  was  translated  into  Swe- 
dish, by  the  direction  of  St.  Bridget.  According  to  the 
testimony  of  Jonas  Arnagrimus,  a  disciple  of  the  distin- 
guished Tycho  Brahe,  a  translation  of  the  Bible  was  made 

*  The  venerable  Bede  died  in  735,  immediately  after  having  finished 
his  translation  of  St.  John's  Gospel,  which  completed  his  version  of  the 
Scriptures. 

t  Cf.  Bishop  Kenrick's  "  Theologia  Dogmatica,"  vol.  i,  p.  426. 

X  A  learned  Protestant  historian,  especially  in  regard  to  dates. 
20 


230  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

in  Iceland  as  earlj  as  1279.  A  Bohemian  Bible  appeared 
at  Prague  in  1488,  and  passed  through  three  other  differ- 
ent editions,  at  Cutna  in  1498,  and  at  Venice  in  1506 
and  1511. 

Finally,  to  complete  this  hastj  summary  of  facts,  we 
may  here  state,  as  an  evidence  of  the  solicitude  of  Rome 
for  the. dissemination  of  the  Bible,  that  many  editions  of 
Syriac  and  Arabic  Bibles  have  been  printed  at  Rome  and 
Venice  for  the  use  of  the  oriental  churches  in  communion 
with  the  Roman  Catholic  church.  A  translation  of  the 
Bible  into  Ethiopic  was  published  at  Rome  as  early  as 
1548.  The  famous  convent  of  Armenian  monks,  called 
Mechiteristi,  at  Venice,  so  often  visited  by  travellers,  has 
published  exquisitely  beautiful  versions  of  the  Bible  trans- 
lated into  Armenian. 

From  this  mass  of  facts— and  we  have  not  given  all 
that  might  be  alleged  on  the  subject — it  clearly  appears 
that  the  Catholic  church  had  exhibited  a  most  commenda- 
ble zeal  for  the  dissemination  of  the  Scriptures  among  the 
people,  long  before  the  reformation  had  been  heard  of. 
This  evidence  of  stubborn  facts  demonstrates  how  very 
silly  are  the  assertions  of  those  Protestant  writers  who, 
with  M.  D'Aubigne,  would  fain  persuade  the  world  that 
we  are  indebted  to  the  reformation  for  the  knowledge  and 
general  circulation  of  the  Scriptures.  And  yet  prejudice 
or  drivelling  ignorance  will  probably  still  continue  to 
re-echo  this  unfounded  assertion. 

Before  the  appearance  of  Luther's  version,  in  1530, 
there  had  existed  in  the  diff'erent  countries  of  Europe  at 
least  tioentij  two  different  Catholic  versions,  which,  during 
the  seventy  years  intervening  between  1460  and  1530, 
had  passed  through  at  least  seventy  editions,  or  one  for 
each  year  !  !  And,  simultaneously  with  Luther's  Bible, 
there  appeared  a  great  number  of  other  Catholic  versions, 
all  of  which,  as  well  as  those  previously  in  existence, 
were  frequently  reprinted.  And  yet,  in  the  face  of  all 
these  facts,  we  are  still  to  be  told  that  the  Catholic  church 
concealed  the  Bible  !  ! 


INTLTJEXCE    OF    THE    REFORM    ON    THE    BIBLE.  231 

While  on  this  subject,  we  may  here  remark  that,  of  the 
four  famous  Polyglot  Bibles,  the  three  most  ancient  were 
published  by  Catholics.  That  by  Cardinal  Ximenes  was 
published  at  Alcala  in  Spain,  in  six  volumes,  folio,  in  the 
year  1515,  two  years  before  the  commencement  of  the 
reformation.  That  of  Antwerp  was  published  in  1572, 
and  that  of"  Paris  in  1645;  while  the  latest  of  all,  and 
the  only  Protestant  one,  was  published  by  Walton,  in 
London,  only  in  the  year  1658. 

We  say  nothing  of  another  Polyglot  edition  of  the 
Psalms,  by  Giustiniani,  an  Italian,  who  seems  to  have 
been  the  first  to  conceive  this  splendid  idea  of  illustrating 
the  sacred  Scriptures  by  exhibiting,  in  parallel  columns, 
the  original  Hebrew  and  Greek,  with  the  most  ancient 
and  esteemed  versions.  His  labor  was,  however,  never 
destined  to  seethe  light;  his  manuscripts  were  lost  in  a 
shipwreck  near  Leghorn  ;  and  it  was  reserved  to  the  mag- 
nificent Ximenes  to  be  the  first  to  carry  out  this  great  con- 
ception. He  devoted  many  of  the  last  years  of  his  brill- 
iant life  to  this  great  work.  Valuable  manuscripts  in 
Greek  and  Hebrew  were  procured  in  remote  places,  and 
at  immense  expense  :  Ximenes  himself  collated  them  with 
the  assistance  of  a  body  of  learned  men ;  and  he  finally- 
put  the  finishing  hand  to  his  herculean  labor.  To  him 
are  we  indebted  for  this  first  great  impulse  given  to  bibli- 
cal criticism  and  literature. 

It  is  also  worthy  of  remark  that  a  learned  Italian,  Ber- 
nardo de  Rossi,  towards  the  close  of  the  last  century,  by 
his  single,  unaided  efforts,  collected  together  more  valua- 
ble ancient  Greek,  and  especially  Hebrew,  manuscripts 
of  the  Bible,  than  Walton  had  been  able  to  do,  with  his 
immense  resources  and  the  co-operation  of  the  British 
and  of  other  governments.* 

It  is  also  proper  to  state  that,  besides  the  version  of  the 
Bible  into  the  vernacular  tongues  of  Europe  referred  to 

*  See  Geddea'  "  Prospectus  for  a  new  translation,"  &c.  4to.  Also 
the  works  of  Bernardo  de  Kossi,  wlio  died  quite  recently. 


232  D  AUBIGNb-S    HISTORY    REVIEWED. 

above,  there  were,  about  the  time  of  the  reformation,  va- 
rious Latin  versions  made  bj  Catholics  immediatelj  from 
the  original  Hebrew  and  Greek  texts.  These  were  en- 
tirely distinct  from  the  Latin  Vulgate  of  St.  Jerome. 
The  most  famous  were  : — that  by  Santes  Pagninus,  pub- 
lished at  Florence  and  Lyons  in  1528,  which  was  a  trans- 
lation from  the  Hebrew  ;  and  that  of  the  Old  Testament 
by  Cardinal  Cajetan,  which  was  a  literal  translation  from 
the  Septuagint.*  It  is  also  well  known  that  Leo  X,  to 
promote  biblical  learning,  established  a  professorship  of 
Hebrew  in  Rome,  at  the  very  dawn  of  the  reformation. 

Thus  every  department  of  biblical  study  was  exten- 
sively cultivated  by  the  Catholic  church,  both  before  and 
after  the  commencement  of  the  reformation.  Catholic 
divines  labored  at  least  as  much,  and  as  successfully,  in 
these  studies,  as  did  the  reformers,  and  at  a  much  more 
early  period.  Europe  was  filled  with  Bibles  in  almost 
every  language,  and  especially  in  Latin  and  the  vernacu- 
lar tongues. 

With  all  these  facts  before  us,  we  will  be  able  to  form 
a  correct  judgment  on  the  truth  of  the  statement  made  by 
Martin  Luther  himself  in  his  Table  Talk.  '*  Thirty  years 
ago  the  Bible  was  an  unknown  book  :  the  Prophets  were 
not  understood  ;  it  was  thought  that  they  could  not  be 
translated.  I  was  twenty  years  old  before  I  saw  the 
Scriptures :  I  thought  that  there  was  no  other  Gospel,  no 
other  Epistles  than  those  contained  in  the  Postilla."t 
He  must  either  have  been  wondrously  ignorant  of  what 
was  every  where  passing  around  him  in  the  world;  or  he 
must  have  wilfully  misstated  the  facts  of  the  case.  Either 
his  character  for  knowledge  or  for  veracity  must  suffer. 

But  we  are  still  told  that  Catholics  did  not  read  the 
Bible — that  they  were  even  prohibited  to  do  so — before 
the  reformation.     Who   then   purchased   and   read  those 

*  Geddes,  ibid. 

t  I'isch  Reden,  or  Table  Talk,  p.  852,  edit.  Eislebeu.  Apud  Audin, 
p.  390,  391. 


INFLUENCE  OF  THE  REFORM  ON  THE  BIBLE.  233 

seventy  editions  of  the  Bible  in  the  vernacular  tongues, 
which  were  published  before  Luther  had  circulated  one 
copy  of  his  German  Bible  ?  Were  they  read  only  by  the 
priests  ?  But  these  all  knew  Latin,  and  had  their  Latin 
Bibles.  Think  you  that  booksellers  would  have  published 
so  many  editions  of  a  book  which  was  not  readily  sold, 
and  extensively  read  ?  Would  a  new  edition  have  been 
necessary  each  successive  year,  during  the  seventy  which 
preceded  the  appearance  of  Luther's  Bible,  unless  each 
edition,  as  it  appeared,  had  been  eagerly  sought  and 
bought  up  ?  Would  any  of  our  modern  book  publishers 
reprint  seventy  successive  yearly  editions  of  a  work  which 
was  not  generally  read  ? 

But  there  was  a  prohibition  by  the  church  to  read  the 
Bible.  When,  where,  and  by  whom  was  that  prohibition 
made  ?  The  annals  of  history  are  wholly  silent  as  to  any 
restriction  of  the  kind  having  been  made,  before  the  fla- 
grant abuses  of  the  Bible  by  the  reformers  and  their  dis- 
ciples seemed  to  require  some  such  regulation.  The 
church  had  indeed  carefully  guarded  against  the  circula- 
tion of  inaccurate  editions;  and  the  suppression  of  the 
Italian  version  by  Bruccioli  is  an  evidence  of  this  wise 
solicitude.  But  we  no  where  find  evidence  of  any  re- 
strictive law  as  to  the  readingof  the  Bible  in  the  vernacu- 
lar versions,  until  after  the  council  of  Trent  had  closed 
its  sessions  in  1563. 

A  committee  of  learned  divines,  named  by  the  council, 
drew  up  a  list  or  index  of  prohibited  books,  prefaced  by 
ten  general  regulations  on  the  reading  of  them.  The 
fourth  rule  of  the  Index  permits  the  reading  **  of  the 
Bible  translated  into  the  vulgar  tongues  by  Catholic  au- 
thors, to  those  only  to  whom  the  bishop  or  the  inquisitor, 
with  the  advice  of  the  parish  priests  or  confessors,  shall 
judge  that  such  reading  will  prove  more  profitable  unto 
an  increase  of  faith  and  piety,  than  injurious  :"  and  it 
assigns,  as  a  reason  for  this  restriction,  "that  experience 
had  made  it  manifest  that  the  permission   to  read  the  Bi- 


234  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

ble  indiscriminately  in  the  vulgar  tongues  had, /rowi  the 
rashness  of  men,  done  more  harm  than  good."* 

Such  a  disciplinary  regulation  was  then  deemed  neces- 
sary when  the  landmarks  of  the  ancient  faith  had  been 
recklessly  removed,  and  the  Bible  was  wantonly  per- 
verted to  support  a  hundred  contradictory  systems.  In 
that  period  of  religious  vertigo,  men,  "  having  an  appear- 
ance indeed  of  piety,  but  denying  the  power  thereof," 
were  "  always  learning,  and  never  attaining  to  the  know- 
ledge of  the  truth  ;"t  **  according  to  their  own  devices,  they 
heaped  up  to  themselves  teachers,  having  itching  ears; 
and  they  turned  away  their  hearing  from  the  truth,  and 
were  turned  to  fables  :":j:  they  **  were  like  children, 
tossed  to  and  fro,  and  carried  about  by  every  wind  of 
doctrine,  in  the  wickedness  of  men,  in  craftiness,  by 
which  they  lie  in  wait  to  deceive  :"§  and  not  understand- 
ing that  in  the  Scriptures  "  are  some  things  hard  to  be 
understood,'' they  "  wrested  them  to  their  own  perdi- 
tion."|l  In  this  emergency,  when  the  very  substance  of 
the  faith  was  endangered,  did  it  not  behoove  the  church, 
**  which  is  the  church  of  the  living  God,  the  pillar  and 
ground  of  the  truth, "^  to  raise  her  warning  voice,  and  to 
proclaim  from  the  chair  of  Peter,  with  St.  Peter  himself, 
that  all  should  *'  understand  this  first,  that  no  prophecy 
of  the  Scripture  is  made  by  private  interpretation  ;"**  and 
to  re-echo  through  the  religious  world,  thus  shaken  to  \is 
base,  the  solemn  command  of  Christ  "  to  hear  the  church," 
under  the  penalty  of  being  reckoned  **  with  heathens  and 
publicans  .^"tt 

This  is  precisely  what  the  church  did  ;  and  she  thought 
that  she  was  compelled  to  this  course  by  the  sad  '*  expe- 

*  "  Cum  experiraento  manifestura  sit,  si  sacra  biblia  vulgari  lingua 
passim  sine  discrimiue  permittantur,  plus  inde,  ob  hominum  temerita- 
tem,  detrimenti  quam  utilitutis  oriri."     Kegula  IV. 

t  2  Tim.  iii,  5—7.  \  Ibid,  iv,  3,  4.  §  Ephes.  iv,  14. 

II  2  Peter  iii,  G.  IT  1  Tim.  iii,  15.  **  2  Peter  i,  20. 

ft  Matth.xviii,  17. 


INFLUENCE    OF    THE   REFORM    ON    THE    BIBLE.  235 

rience"  of  the  evil  vvoikings  of  the  newly  broached  prin- 
ciple of  private  interpretation.  "  It  was  not  her  fault, 
but  the  fault  of  the  times:"  the  *' rashness  of  men" 
perverting  the  Scriptures  of  God  to  their  own  perdition, 
was  the  cause  of  her  enactment  restrictins;  the  readinjr  of 
the  Scriptures  in  the  vulgar  tongues.  The  principle  of 
private  interpretation,  applied  to  the  Scriptures,  had  evi- 
dently "  done  more  harm  than  good;"  for,  whereas  the 
Bible  manifestly  contains  and  teaches  but  one  religion,  this 
principle  had  extracted  from  it  at  least  a  hundred  contra- 
dictory ones  ;  and  therefore  it  had  obviously  done  at  least 
ninety-nine  times  "as  much  harm  as  good."  So  that  the 
reformation  is  alone  to  be  blamed  for  this  restrictive 
policy  on  the  part  of  the  Catholic  church  ;  and  Protest- 
ants should  be  the  last  persons  in  the  world  to  reproach 
to  her  as  a  fault,  what  the  "rashness"  alone  of  their 
fathers  in  the  faith  occasioned. 

But  the  enactment  in  question,  besides  not  emanating 
from  the  council  itself,  it  having  been  made  after  the 
council  had  closed  its  sessions,  contained  a  mere  disci- 
plinary regulation,  which  was  not  every  where  received,* 
and  which  has  long  since  ceased  to  be  of  binding  force  in 
any  part  of  the  Catholic  church.  The  present  discipline 
requires  only  *'  that  the  version  be  approved,  and  illus- 
trated by  commentaries  from  the  fathers  and  other  Cath- 
olic writers."!  Pope  Pius  VI,  in  a  letter:}:  to  Anthony 
Martini,  the  translator  of  the  Italian  version,  now  gene- 
rally used  in  Italy,  praises  him  for  his  undertaking,  and 
adds  :  **  for  these  (the  Scriptures)  are  the  most  abundant 
sources,  which  ought  to  he  left  open  to  every  one,  to  draw 
from  them  purity  of  morals  and  of  doctrine. "§ 

*  '-  Sed  ea  disciplina  nou  ubique  obtinuit."  Bp.  Kenrick,  Theol. 
Dogmatica,  vol.  i,  p.  429.  In  this  learned  and  excellent  work  will  be 
found  many  valuable  Ijicts,  of  which  we  have  already  availed  ourselves, 
and  on  which  we  shall  occasionally  draw  in  the  sequel.  f  J^^id. 

t  Written  April  1,  1778. 

§  Inserted  in  frontispiece  of  the  Doway  JBibk. 


236  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

It  is  then  plainly  a  slander  to  assert  that  the  Catholic 
church  forbids  the  reading  of  the  Scriptures.  In  the 
United  States,  Catholics  have  published  at  least  as  many 
editions  of  the  Bible  as  any  Protestant  sect.  These  have 
appeared  in  every  form,  from  Haydock's  splendid  folio 
Bible,  in  two  volumes — an  edition  unequalled  by  any 
Protestant  Bible  in  the  country — down  to  the  octavo  and 
duodecimo  editions.  Several  of  these  have  been  stereo- 
typed: and  they  may  be  had  in  every  Catholic  book  store 
in  the  country,  and  may  be  found  in  most  Catholic  fami- 
lies. In  France,  the  great  Bossuet  distributed  himself  no 
less  than  fifty  thousand  copies  of  the  New  Testament 
translated  into  French  by  Amelotte."* 

In  speaking  of  the  influence  of  the  reformation  on  bib- 
lical learning,  we  must  say  a  few  words— our  limits  wiU 
allow  but  few  —  on  the  different  Protestant  versions. 
These  are  as  numerous,  and  almost  as  various,  as  the 
sects  from  which  they  have  emanated.  The  oldest  is  that 
of  Luther,  in  which,  as  soon  as  it  appeared,  the  learned 
Emser  detected  no  less  than  a  thousand  glaring  faults ! 
Luther  became  angry,  and  raged  at  this  exposure  of  his 
work  by  his  learned  antagonist,  on  whom  he  exhausted 
his  vocabulary  of  abusive  epithets.  He  said,  among  other 
pretty  things,  that  "  these  popish  asses  were  not  able  to 
appreciate  his  labors."!  Yet  Seckendorf  informs  us  that, 
in  his  cooler  moments,  he  availed  himself  of  Emser's  cor- 
rections, and  made  many  changes  in  his  version.^ 

Still,  however,  Martin  Bucer,  a  brother  reformer,  says 
that  •'  his  falls  in  translating  and  explaining  the  Scrip- 
tures were  manifest  and  not  a  few."§  Zuingle,  another 
leading  reformer,  after  having  examined  it,  openly  pro- 
nounced it  a  corruption  of  the  word  of  God.[|     It  has  now 

*  Robelot,  Influence,  &c.  p.  3S9. 

t  Seckendorf,  Coram.  1.  i,  sect.  52,  §  cxxvii,  p.  210.       |  lb.  ^  cxxii. 
§  "  Luiheri  lapsus  in  verlcndis  ct  explanandu  Scripturis  manifestos  esse 
etnonpaucos."    Eucer  Dial,  contra  Melancthon. 
II  See  Amicable  Discussion,  i,  129,  note. 


INFLITENCE    OF   THE    REFORM  ON    THE    BIBLE.  Q.3T 

grown  obsolete  even  iu  Gernianj.  It  is  viewed  as  faulty 
and  insufficient  in  many  respects.  In  18S6,  many  Lu- 
theran consistories  called  for  its  entire  revision.* 

We  might  also  show  that  the  translations  made  by  the 
other  leading  reformers  were  not  more  unexceptionable. 
Luther  returned  with  interest  the  compliment  which 
Zuingle  had  paid  to  his  Bible.  *'  QEcolampndius  and  the 
theologians  of  Basle  made  another  version;  but,  accord- 
ing to  the  famous  Beza,  it  was  impious  in  many  parts : 
the  divines  of  Basle  said  the  same  of  Beza's  version.  In 
fact,  adds  Dumoulin,  another  learned  minister,  *' he 
changes  in  it  the  text  of  Scripture  ;"  and  speaking  of 
Calvin's  translation,  he  says  that  **  Calvin  does  violence 
to  the  letter  of  the  Gospel,  which  he  has  changed,  making 
also  additions  of  his  own.  The  ministers  of  Geneva  be- 
lieved themselves  obliged  to  make  an  exact  version  ;  but 
James  I,  king  of  England,  in  his  conference  at  Hampton 
court,  declared  that,  of  all  the  versions,  it  was  the  most 
wicked  and  unfaithful."! 

It  is  very  difficult  for  men  who  have  their  own  peculiar 
religious  notions  to  subserve,  to  translate  fairly  the  sacred 
text.  An  example  of  this  is  found  in  the  manifestly  sec- 
tarian rendering  of  the  words  baptism  and  baptize,  by  im- 
tnersion  and  immerse^  in  the  New  Testament  translated  by 
George  Cambell,  James  Mc'Knight  and  Philip  Doddridge, 
and    now  extensively  used   by  the    new    sect — which  is 

*  See  Audin,  p.  215,  for  many  authorities  on  this  subject.  Of  Lu- 
ther's version  Mr.  Hallam  says  :  "  The  translation  of  the  Old  and  New 
Testament  by  Luther  is  more  renowned  for  the  purity  of  its  German 
idiom,  than  for  its  adherence  to  the  original  text.  Simon  has  charged 
him  with  ignorance  of  Hebrew ;  and  when  we  consider  how  late  he 
came  to  the  knowledge  of  that  or  the  Greek  language,  and  the  multi- 
plicity of  his  employments,  it  may  be  believed  that  his  knowledge  of 
them  was  far  from  extensive."  Hist.  Literat.  i,  20L  And  in  a  note 
(ibid.)  he  says  :  "  It  has  been  as  ill  spoken  of  among  Calvinists  as  by 
the  Catholics  themselves.  St.  Aldegonde  says  it  is  farther  from  the 
Hebrew  than  any  he  knows."     See  Gerdes  Hist.  Ref.  Evang.  iii,  60. 

t  Bishop  Trevern.  Amic.  Discussion,  i,  127,  note.  All  these  facts 
and  many  more  can  be  easily  substantiated. 


238  d'aubigne's  history  reviewep. 

greatly  spreading  through  the  western  eountrj — called 
reformers  or  CambelUtes.  We  &aj  nothing  here  of  the 
gross  perversion  of  the  last  verse  of  St.  Matthew's  Gospel;, 
in  this  version. 

The  version  of  king  James,  on  its  first  appeararKre  irs 
England,  was  openly  decried  by  the  Protestant  ministers, 
as  abounding  in  gross  perversions  of  the  original  text.* 
The  necessity  of  this  new  translation,  was  predicated  on 
the  notorious  corruptions  of  the  sacred  text  by  all  the 
Protestant  versions  in  England  during  the  previous  seventy 
years.  The  chief  of  these  were;  Tyndale's,  Mathews/ 
Cranmer's,  and  the  bishops'  Bible.t  Here  then  is  an  open 
avowal,  that  during  all  this  time,  when  Protestantism  wa& 
in  its  palmiest  days  in  England,  it  had  not  offered  to  the 
people  the  pure  word  of  God  I 

And,  as  we  have  just  seen,  king  James'  version  did  not 
ranch  mend  the  matter.  It  was  however  repeatedly  cor- 
rected :  but  even  in  its  amended  forms,  as  now  used  by 
most  English  and  American  Protestants^,  it  still  abounds 
with  grievous  faults-  Mr.  Ward,  in  his  Errata,  has 
pointed  out  a  great  number  :  though  candor  compels  us  to 
avow,  that  this  writer  is  not  always  judicious  in  his  criti- 
cism, and  that  he  frecjuently  insists  too  much  on  mere  tri- 
fles. Bishop  Kenrick,  in  his  Theology,  proves  by  a  re- 
ference to  the  original  text,  as  edited  even  by  Protestants, 
that  the  modern  En-rlish  version  slill  retains  at  least  five 


*  After  speaking  rather  di*paragino;Iy  of  the  English  style  of  king 
James'  version,  Mr.  Hallara  very  cautiously  abstains  from  veritiiring  an 
opinion  on  its  fidelity,  "  On  the  more  important  question,  whether  this 
translation  is  entirely,  or  with  very  trifling  exceptions,  conformable  to 
the  original  text,  it  seems  unfit  to  enter.  It  is  one  which  is  seldom 
discussed  with  all  the  temper  and  freedom  from  oblique  views  which 
the  subject  demands,  and  upon  which,  for  this  reason,  it  is  not  safe  for 
those  who  have  not  had  leisure  or  means  to  examine  for  themselves,  to 
take  upon  trust  the  testimony  of  the  learned."  Hist.  Literat.  sup.  cit. 
ii,  59.    This  silence  is  ominous  in  a  learned  English  Protestant. 

I  For  an  account  of  these  see  Hallam. — Hist.  Lit.  I,  201. 


INFLUENCE  OF  THE  REFORM  ON  THE  BIBLE.  239 

or  six  grievous  perversions  of  the  text,  in  matters  too, 
aifecting  doctrine.* 

The  English  Dovvay  version,  which  is  in  general  use 
among  English  and  American  Catholics,  is  a  translation 
from  the  Latin  vulgate,  which  was  rendered  from  the  origi- 
nal Hebrew  and  Greek  by  St.  Jerome,  towards  the  close 
of  the  fourth  century.  Dating  from  a  time  preceding  by 
many  hundred  years  (he  religious  prejudices  which  influ- 
enced Christians  for  the  last  three  hundred  years,  the  vul- 
gate is  deservedly  esteemed  for  its  accuracy  and  impar- 
tiality, even  by  intelligent  Protestant  writers.  St.  Jerome 
had  access  to  many  valuable  manuscripts  which  have  since 
perished.  Since  his  time  the  Hebrew  has  undergone  a 
revolution  by  the  introduction  of  the  Massorctic  points, 
to  supply  the  place  of  vowels,  which  were  wanting  in  the 
old  Hebrew  lanii-uaw. 

The  distinguished  Protestant  biblical  critic,  George 
Cambell  states  these  advantages  of  vSt.  Jerome's  position, 
and  fully  admits  their  force. t  He  also  says  of  his  ver- 
sion:  *' The  vulgate  ma^'be  pronounced  on  the  whole  a  good 
and  faithful  version."^  Another  famous  modern  Protest- 
ant writer  on  biblical  studies,  says  of  it:  '*  It  is  allowed 
to  be  in  general  a  faithful  translation,  and  sometimes  ex- 
hibits the  sense  of  Scripture  with  greater  accuracy  than 
the  more  modern  versions The  Latin  vulgate  pre- 
serves many  true  readings,  where  the  modern  Hebrew 
copies  are  corrupted. "§    A  v/riter,  whose  biblical  **  Insti- 

*  Theologia  DogmaUca,  vol.  1,  p.  427,  seqq.  Among  these  facts,  the 
most  glciring  are  these:  Matth.  xix,  11th,  "All  men  cannot  receive  this 
•saying,"  for  "receive  not" — Greek,  ;)(^cef.ojat  :  I  Coi-inth.  vii,  9.  "If  they 
cannot  contain,"  for  do  not  contain— Gr.  lyupciTivcvTcti ;  I  Cor.  'ix,  5. 
"  Have  we  not  power  to  load  about  a  sister,  a  wife,"  for  a  woman,  a  sis- 
ter. Gr.  uJ'i\<piiv  yvvauu.;  1  Cor.  xi,  27. — "Eat  this  bread  a7id  drink" 
8cc.,  for  or  drink— Gr.  i,,  k,c.  &,c. 

t  Dissert,  torn.  x.  p.  354,  Amer.  edit,  apud  Bp.  Kenrick. —  Theol. 
Dog.  i,  p.  424. 

X  Ibid.  p.  358.  apud  eundem. 

§  Home's  Introduction,  vol.  ii,  part  i,  ch.  v.  §  1,  p.  2S1,  202.  Apud 
Bp.  Kenrick  ibid.  p.  423. 


240  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

tutes"  are  often  used  as  a  text  book  in  this  country,  says : 
"it  is  in  general  skilful  and  faithful,  and  often  gives  the 
sense  of  Scripture  better  than  modern  versions."* 

Thus  Protestants  did  not  at  least,  even  according  to 
their  own  showing,  make  much  of  a  reformation  in  the 
Bible,  when  they  departed  from  that  **  faithful"  transla- 
tion,— the  old  Latin  vulgate ;  and  gave  us  in  its  place  their 
many  crude  and  grossly  faulty  versions  of  the  Bible.  But 
did  they  succeed  better  in  expounding,  than  they  had  in 
translating  the  Bible  ?  They  have  at  least  been  prolific 
in  this  genre:  they  have  given  us  almost  as  many  inter- 
pretations as  they  have  heads.  We  could  scarcely  have 
asked  for  more  variety. 

Nor  is  the  work  of  improving  on  the  previously  ascer- 
tained meanings  of  the  Bible  yet  completed  :  almost  every 
day  we  hear  of  learned  and  intelligent  preachers  among 
Protestants,  striking  new  systems  out  of  this  good  book — 
they  certainly  are  out  of  it.  One,t  by  a  new  method  cal- 
culates to  a  nicety  the  very  year  and  day  when  all  pro- 
phecy is  to  be  fulfilled,  and  the  world  is  to  come  to  an 
end:  another^  pretending  that  all  Protestant  sects  have 
hitherto  been  in  the  dark  as  to  the  real  meaning  of  the 
Bible,  proposes  that  all  creeds  and  commentaries  be  cast 
to  the  winds,  and  that  every  one  hereafter  explain  it  sim- 
ply as  it  reads:  that  is,  as  he  thinks  it  reads.  This  last 
system,  though  it  is  based  on  the  real  Protestant  principle 
of  private  interpretation,  to  the  exclusion  of  all  church 
authority,  is  one  eminenly  calculated  to  multiply  sects, 
and  to  render  confusion  worse  confounded. 

Let  us  see  in  conclusion,  what  has  been  the  practical 
operation  of  this  principle  of  private  interpretation,  and 
what  the  general  influence  of  the  reformation  on  biblical 
studies  in  Germany,  the  first  theatre  of  Protestantism. 
Has  it  been  salutary  or  injurious  ?     It  requires  but  little 

*  Gerard  Institutes  of  biblical  criticism.  §  iv,  p.  269,  270.  Apud 
eiindem  ibid. 

t  JMiller.  I  Alexander  Cambell. 


IiNFLUENCB    OF     THE    REFORM    ON    THE    BIBLE.  241 

acquaintance  with  the  present  condition  of  German  Pro- 
testantism, to  be  able  to  pronounce  on  its  character  and 
tendency.  Rationalism  is  there  in  the  ascendant.  This 
system,  which  is  little  better  than  downright  Ueism,  has 
frittered  away  the  very  substance  of  Christianity.  The 
inspiration  of  the  Bible  itself,  the  integrity  of  its  canon, 
the  truth  of  its  numerous  and  clearly  attested  miracles, 
the  divinity  and  even  the  resurrection  of  Christ,  and  the 
existence  of  grace,  and  of  every  thing  supernatural  in  re- 
ligion— have  all  fallen  before  the  Juggernaut  car  of  modern 
German  Protestant  exegesis — or  system  of  interpretation  ! 
The  Rationalists  of  Germany  have  left  nothing  of  Christi- 
anity— not  even  its  skeleton  !  They  boldly  and  unblush- 
ingly  proclaim  their  infidel  principles,  through  the  press, 
from  the  professor's  chair,  and  the  pulpit.  And  the  most 
learned  and  distinguished  among  the  present  German  Pro- 
testant clergy,  have  openly  embraced  this  system.  Who- 
ever doubts  the  entire  accuracy  of  this  picture  of  modern 
German  Protestantism,  needs  only  open  the  works  of 
Semmler,  Damon,  Paul,  Strauss,  Eichorn,  Michaelis, 
15retschneider,  Woltman,  and  others. 

The  following  extract  from  the  sermons  of  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Rose,  a  divine  of  the  church  of  England,  and  **  Christian 
advocate  of  the  university  of  Cambridge,"  gives  a  graphic 
sketch  of  these  German  Rationalists.  "They  are  bound 
by  no  law,  but  their  own  fancies  ;  some  are  more  and  some 
are  less  extravagant:  but  I  do  them  no  injustice  after  this 
declaration  in  saying,  that  the  general  inclination  and 
tendency  of  their  opinions  (more  or  less  forcibly  acted  on) 
is  this: — that  in  the  New  Testament,  we  shall  find  only 
the  opinions  of  Christ  and  the  apostles  adapted  to  the  age 
in  which  they  lived,  and  not  eternal  truths;  that  Christ 
himself  had  neither  the  design  nor  the  power  of  teaching 
any  system  which  v/as  to  endure;  that,  when  he  taught 
any  enduring  truth,  as  he  occasionally  did,  it  was  with- 
out being  aware  of  its  nature ;  that  the  apostles  understood 
still  less  of  real  religion ;  that  the  whole  doctrine  both  of 
21 


242  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

Christ  and  the  apostles,  as  it  was  directed  to  the  Jews 
alone,  so  it  was  gathered  from  no  other  source  than  the 
Jewish  philosophy;  that  Christ  himself  erred,  and  his 
apostles  spread  his  errors,  and  that  consequently  no  one 
of  his  doctrines  is  to  be  received  on  their  authority ;  but 
that,  without  regard  to  the  authority  of  the  books  of  Scrip- 
ture, and  their  asserted  divine  origin,  each  doctrine  is  to 
be  examined  according  to  the  principles  of  right  reason, 
before  it  is  allowed  to  be  divine." 

We  should  be  endless  were  we  to  attempt  to  give  all 
the  extravagances  into  which  these  German  Protestant 
divines  have  indulged  :  yet  we  must  give  a  fev/  of  the  most 
glaring.  Doctor  Paul,  in  his  Scripture  Commentaries, 
enters  into  a  labored  argument  to  prove  that  Christ  was 
not  really  dead,  but  that  he  had  merely  suffered  a  fainting 
fit,  from  which  he  was  recovered  by  the  admission  of  fresh 
air  into  his  sepulchre.  He  moves  heaven  and  earth  to 
prove  that  no  instance  is  on  record  of  a  man  dying  on  a 
cross  in  three  hours  ! !  He  indulges  in  similar  absurdities 
about  the  resurrection  of  Lazarus. 

When  Christ  is  said  to  have  walked  on  the  sea,  it  is  no 
miracle  at  all,  says  Doctor  Paul :  for  the  Greek  word  may 
mean  only  that  he  walked  hy  the  sea,  or  simply  that  he 
swam:  and  St.  Peter's  having  been  on  the  point  of  drown- 
ing, resulted  merely  from  the  circumstance  that  he  was 
not  so  expert  a  swimmer  as  Christ!  !  Most  of  the  cures 
spoken  of  in  the  Gospel,  the  Rationalists  explain  by  the 
superior  skill  in  medicine,  which  they  have  ascertained, 
our  Saviour  learned  during  his  infancy,  while  an  exile  in 
Egypt;  or  they  account  for  them,  by  Dr.  Mesmer's  newly 
invented  system  of  animal  magnetism  ! 

According  to  them,  St.  John  did  not  really  write  the 
Gospel  ascribed  to  him;  and  as  for  the  other  three  Gos- 
pels, they  are  a  mere  clumsy  compilation  from  a  previous 
common  record,  the  existence  of  which  they  have  detected, 
and  which  they  assert  was  written  in  the  Aramaic  lan- 
guage! !     This  discovery,  made  first  by  the  learned  Mi- 


INFLUENCE  OF  THE  REFORM  ON  THE  BIBLE.  243 

chaellis,  was  improved  on  by  Berthold  and  others,  who 
maintained,  that  not  only  the  Gospels,  but  the  Epistles  of 
St.  Paul  and  the  other  Epistles  also,  are  mere  faulty  trans- 
lations from  the  original  Aramaic!!  Thus,  "instead  of 
the  good  old-fashioned  notion,  that  the  New  Testament  is 
a  collection  of  works  composed  by  the  persons  whose 
names  they  bear,  and  who  wrote  under  the  immediate  in- 
spiration of  the  Holy  Ghost,  we  must  now  believe  that  the 
original  narrator  of  the  Gospel  History  was  an  unknown 
person ;  and  that  the  Gospels  and  Epistles  are  merely 
translations  made  by  some  persons  whose  names  are  lost, 
and  who  betray  themselves  by  several  blunders  in  the 
work  which  they  undertook."*  At  least  all  these  expla- 
nations are  riatural  enough  :  and  those  who  maintain  them 
accordingly  style  themselves  naturalistSy  as  well  as  Ra- 
tionalists. 

Such  then  are  the  effects — present  and  palpable — of  the 
reformation  on  the  biblical  literature  of  Germany!  The 
reformation  began  by  vaunting  its  zeal  for  the  Bible:  and 
it  has  ended,  in  the  very  place  of  its  birth,  by  rejecting  the 
Bible,  and  by  blaspheming  Christ  and  his  religion  ! 

Its  results  have  not  been  more  favorable  to  Christianity 
in  Geneva,  another  centre  of  the  reformation,  and  another 
radiating  point  of  the  new  Gospel.  Hear  what  the  Pro- 
testant writer  Grenus  says  on  this  subject.  "The  minis- 
ters of  Geneva  have  already  passed  the  unchangeable  bar- 
rier. They  have  held  out  the  hand  of  fellowship  to  deists 
and  to  the  enemies  of  the  faith.  They  even  blush  to  make 
mention,  in  their  catechisms,  of  original  sin,  without  which 
the  incarnation  of  the  Eternal  Word  is  no  longer  neces- 
sary." *'  When  asked,"  says  Rousseau,  "if  Jesus  Christ 
is  God,  they  do  not  dare  to  answer.     When  asked,  what 

mysteries  they  admit,  tliey  still  do  not  dare  to  answer 

A  philosopher  casts  on  them  a  rapid  glance,  and  penetrates 

*  British  Critic,  July,  1828,  See  also  Dr.  Pusey's  "Historical  In- 
quiry;" and  also  Moore's  "Travels  of  an  Irish  Gentleman,"  &c.  p. 
186,  seqq.,  where  this  whole  subject  is  ably  and  fully  elucidated. 


244  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

them  at  once — he  sees  they  are  Arians,  Socinians."*  He 
wrote  from  personal  observation,  made  during  a  residence 
in  Geneva.  Recent  travellers  have  confirmed  his  state- 
ment. 

The  following  epigram  expresses  pretty  accurately  the 
tonfession  of  faith  adopted  by  modern  German  Protestants, 

•'We  now  reject  eacli  m)'stie  creeil, 
To  common  sense  a  scandal; 
We're  more  enlt<ijhtened — yes  indeed, 
Tlie  devil  holds  the  candle!" 

If  Luther  may  be  credited,  (he  old  gentleman — Luther 
called  him  a  genlleman — -"held  the  candle"  at  the  birth; 
and  we  see  no  reason  why  he  should  not  hold  it  at  the 
funeral  of  German  Protestantism  ! 

*  "Lottres  de  la  MontasTRe/* 


JPart  IV. 


INFLUENCE 

OF  THE 

REFORMATION   ON   SOCIETY. 
CHAPTER    XI. 

INFLUENCE    OF    THE    REFORMATION    ON    RELIGIOUS    LIBERTY. 

Stating  the  question — Two  aspects  —  Professions  —  M.  D'Aubign^'s 
theory — "  Combating"  ad  libiium — Diversities  and  sects — Inconsist- 
ency— Early  Protestant  intolerance — The  mother  and  her  recreant 
daughter — Facts  on  persecution  of  each  other  by  early  Protestants — 
Of  Karlstadt — Luther- the  cause  of  it— Persecution  of  Anabaptists — 
Synod  at  Hamburg — Luther's  letter — Zuingle — The  drowned  Jew — 
Calvinistic  intolerance — Persecution  of  Catholics — Diet  of  Spires 
— Name  of  Protestant — A  stubborn  truth — Strange  casuistry — Con- 
vention at  Smalkalde — Inquisition  and  St.  Bartholomew's  day — The 
Michelade,  a  set-ofF — Union  of  church  and  state — A  bear's  embrace — 
Hallam's  testimony — Parallel  between  Catholic  and  Protestant  coun- 
tries. 

We  have  seen  what  was  the  influence  of  the  boasted 
reformation  on  religion :  we  are  now  to  examine  how  it 
affected  the  interests  of  this  world.  Among  these,  liberty 
is  the  one  which  is  perhaps  dearest  to  the  human  heart. 
The  very  name  excites  a  thrill,  and  stirs  the  deepest  feel- 
ings of  the  soul.  Did  the  reformation  promote  liberty  ? 
Did  it  break  the  fetters  of  political  bondage,  and  did  it 
favor  freedom  of  conscience  ?  Were  those  who  came 
within  the  range  of  its  influence  rendered  more  free, 
either  religious!  j  or  politically,  than  they  had  been  before? 
21* 


246  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

The  question  presents  two  aspects  ;  and  we  begin  with 
that  which  is  religious,  both  because  this  involves  higher 
interests,  and  because  it  forms  the  natural  point  of  transi- 
tion from  the  merely  religious  and  spiritual  to  the  merely 
pecular  and  temporal  influence  of  the  reformation.  Re- 
ligious liberty  guarantees  to  every  man  the  right  to  wor- 
ship God  according  to  the  dictates  of  his  conscience, 
without  thereby  incurring  any  civil  penalties  or  disabili- 
ties whatever.  Did  tlie  reformation  secure  this  ?  We 
shall  see.  A  summary  collection  of  the  facts  of  history 
bearing  on  the  subject  will  settle  the  question. 

The  reformation  indeed  boasted  much  on  this  subject. 
It  professed  to  free  n^ankind  from  the  degrading  yoke 
of  the  papacy,  and  to  restore  to  them  their  Christian  lib- 
erty. Men  v/ere  told  that  they  who  professed  the  old  re- 
ligion were  groaning  under  a  worse  tlian  Babylonian  cap- 
tivity, and  that  those  wiio  would  rally  under  the  banner 
of  reform  would  be  brought  back  into  the  land  of  Israel, 
there  to  worship  in  freedom  and  in  peace  near  the  Sion  of 
God.  The  pope  was  Antichrist :  the  church  was  ruth- 
lessly trampled  under  foot  by  his  ministers  ;  the  liberties 
of  the  world  were  crushed.  And  mankind  were  invited 
to  arise  in  their  strength,  to  break  their  chains,  and  to  be 
free  !  The  restraining  influence  of  church  authority  was 
ta  be  spurned  as  wliolly  incompatible  with  freedom,  and 
each  one  was  to  be  guided  solely  by  his  own  private  judg- 
ment in  matters  of  religion. 

The  Germans  were  told  of  the  grievances  they  had  to 
endure  in  ages  past  from  the  court  of  Rome.  Angry  pas- 
sions, once  excited  by  long  forgotten  controversies  be- 
tween the  Germanic  empire  and  the  Roman  pontiffs,  were 
called  up  again  from  the  abyss  in  which  they  had  slum- 
bered for  centuries;  and  the  Germans  were  implored,  in 
the  talismanic  name  of  liberty,  to  break  off  all  connection 
with  Rome  for  ever.  In  case  they  would  do  this,  the 
reformation  promised  that  they  should  realize  the  bright- 
est visions  of  freedom. 


INFLUENCB  OF  THE  REFORM  ON  RELIGIOUS  LIBERTY.       247 

Such  was  tlie  specious  theory  of  the  reformation  ;  such 
the  boasting  speculation  of  Protestant  writers  generally. 
M.  Guizot,  in  his  Lectures  on  Civilization  in  Modern 
Europe,  asserts  that  through  the  reformation  was  brought 
about  **  the  emancipation  of  the  human  mind."  Accord- 
ing to  M.  D'Aubigne,  the  Catholic  church  had  utterly 
destroyed  all  human  liberty.  *'  But  as  a  besieging  army 
day  by  day  contracts  its  lines,  compelling  the  garrison  to 
confine  their  movements  within  the  narrow  enclosure  of 
the  fortress,  and  at  last  obliging  it  to  surrender  at  discre- 
tion, just  so  the  liierarchy,  from  age  to  age,  and  almost 
from  year  to  year,  has  gone  on  restricting  the  liberty 
allowed  for  a  time  to  the  human  mind,  until  at  last,  by 
successive  encroachments,  there  remained  no  liberty  at 
all.  That  which  was  to  be  believed,  loved,  or  done,  was 
regulated  and  decreed  in  the  courts  of  the  Roman  chan- 
cery. The  faithful  were  relieved  from  the  trouble  of  ex- 
amining, reflecting,  and  combating  ;  all  they  had  to  do 
was  to  repeat  the  formularies  that  had  been  taught  them."* 

This  is  all,  to  say  the  least,  an  absurd  exaggeration,  a 
grotesque  romance,  not  even  borrowed  from  real  life. 
What!  were  men  tiien,  for  fifteen  hundred  years,  mere 
automatons  ?  Did  the  obedience  to  the  decisions  of  the 
church  stifle  all  rational  liberty  ?  Had  not  Christ  en- 
joined this  obedience  on  all  under  penalty  of  being  ranked 
with  heathens  and  publicans  ?t  Did  Christ  and  the  apos- 
tles leave  it  free  to  men  to  decide,  by  their  private  judg- 
ment, whether  they  would  receive  or  reject  the  doctrines 
they  taught  ?  And  in  enjoining  obedience  on  all,  with 
the  menace  of  eternal  damnation  to  him  that  would  not 
believe,:}:  did  they  crush  all  liberty?  Might  not  our  his- 
torian also  taunt  their  practice  with  being  inimical  to  free- 
dom, on  the  ground  that  it  "  relieved  the  faithful  from  the 
trouble  of  examininjr,  reflectino;,  and  combating.^" 

In  what  consists  the  ditference  between  the  authorita- 

*  D'Anbpgne,  iii,  237.  f  Matth.  xviii.  X  Markxvi. 


248  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

tive  teaching  of  the  first  body  of  Christ's  ministers,  the 
apostles  and  that  of  the  body  of  pastors  who,  by  divine 
commission,  succeeded  them  in  the  office  of  preaching, 
teaching,  and  baptizing,  and  who,  in  the  discharge  of 
these  sacred  duties,  were  promised  the  divine  assistance 
*'aU  days,  even  to  the  consummation  of  the  world?"* 
And  if  the  latter  was  opposed  to  rational  liberty,  why 
was  not  the  former  ?  Besides,  we  learn,  for  the  first 
time,  that  the  Rom.an  chancery  decided  on  articles  of 
faith  :  we  had  always  thought  that  this  was  the  exclusive 
province  of  general  councils,  and,  when  these  were  not 
in  session,  of  Roman  pontiffs  with  the  acquiescence  of  the 
body  of  bishops  dispersed  over  the  world.  We  had  also 
thought  that  even  these  did  not  always  decide  on  contro- 
verted points,  but  only  in  cases  in  which  the  teaching  of 
revelation  was  clear  and  explicit ;  and  that,  in  other  mat- 
ters, they  wisely  allowed  a  reasonable  latitude  of  opinion. 
But  M.  D'Aubigne  would  have  us  believe  that  Roman 
Catholics  are  bound  hand  and  foot,  body  and  soul,  and 
that  they  are  not  allowed  even  to  reflect ! 

They  were  certainly  not  allowed  to  "combat:"  this 
was  the  special  privilege  of  the  reformed  party.  The  old 
church  wisely  ordained  that  all  the  "  combating"  should 
take  place,  if  at  all,  without  her  pale  :  she  would  permit 
no  wrangling  nor  sects  within  her  bosom.  It  is  indeed 
curious  to  observe  how  M.  D'Aubigne  boasts  of  this  privi- 
lege of  wrangling  among  discordant  sects  as  the  very 
quintessence  of  Christian  liberty !  This  precious  liberty 
could  not  be  enjoyed  so  long  as  a  recognition  of  the  prin- 
ciple of  church  authority  held  the  religious  world  in  uni- 
ty; the  reformers  therefore  determined  to  burst  this  bond- 
age of  union,  and  to  assert  their  freedom  to  "  combat"  ad 
libitum  ! 

*'The  reformation,"  he  says,  *'in  restoring  liberty  to 
the  church,  must  therefore  restore  to  it  its  orig-inal  diver- 

*  Matth.  xxviii. 


INFLUENCE  OF  THE  REFORM  ON  RELIGIOUS  LIBERTY.       249 

sity  (I),  and  people  it  with  families  united  by  the  great 
features  of  resemblance  derived  from  their  common  head, 
but  varying  in  secondary  features,  and  reminding  us  of 
the  varieties  inherent  in  human  nature.  Perhaps  it  might 
have  been  desirable  that  this  diversity  should  have  been 
allowed  to  subsist  in  the  universal  church  without  leadins: 
to  sectarian  divisions;  and  yet  we  must  remember  that 
sects  are  only  the  expression  of  this  diversity."*  Humil- 
iating avowal  !  Sects  are  therefore  as  essential  features 
in  Protestantism,  as  are  the  "diversities''  of  whicii  they 
are  but  the  expression  !  And  all  this  is  essential  to  that 
Chiistian  liberty  for  which  the  Avorld  is  indebted  to  the 
*'  glorious  reformation  !"  St.  Paul,  a  competent  authori- 
ty, reckons  sects  and  dissensions  with  murders  and  drunk- 
enness ;  and  says  of  all  of  them  that  "  they  who  do  such 
things  shall  not  obtain  the  kingdom  of  God."t  Thus, 
according  to  our  historian,  an  essential  feature  of  Chris- 
tian liberty,  is  an  essential  bar  to  entrance  into  the  king- 
dom of  heaven  !  The  reformation  is  welcome  to  all  the 
merit  of  having  originated  such  a  system  of  liberty  !  As 
well  might  its  panegyrist  have  claimed  for  it,  as  essential 
to  the  liberty  which  it  brought  into  the  world,  a  license 
for  murders  and  drunkenness. 

A  little  fiirther  on,  he  thus  glories  in  the  shame  of  Pro- 
testantism. *' True  it  is,  that  human  passion  found  an 
entrance  into  these  discussions  [among  Protestant  sects), 
but  while  deploring  such  minglingsof  evil,  Protestantism, 
far  from  seeking  to  disguise  the  diversity,  publishes  and 
proclaims  it.  Its  path  to  unity  is  indeed  long  and  difficult, 
but  the  unity  it  proposes  is  real.^^t  Real  in  what  ?  Is 
there  one  common  ground  of  unity  which  Protestantism 
has  not  recklessly  trodden  down  and  rendered  desolate  ? 
Truly  its  path  to  unity  *' has  been  long  and  difficult."  Dur- 
ing three  luindred  years,  this  tortuous  path  has  been  seen 
winding  in  more  than  a  hundred  different  directions,  and 
it  has  not  yet  led  the  weary  wanderer  to  unity  ! 

*  Ibid.p.  2:]S.  t  Gallatians  V,  20,  21.  |  Ibid.  p.  238. 


250  d'aubione's  history  reviewed. 

It  has  done  precisely  the  contrary.  It  is  a  strange  path 
to  unity,  truly,  wliich  has  always  led  to  disunion.  "Di- 
versities and  sects"  have  multiplied,  and  grown  with  the 
growth  of  Protestantism  :  they  are  avowedly  its  "  essen- 
tial features."  There  is  scarcely  one  saving  truth  of  reve- 
lation which  Protestantism,  in  its  ever  downward  career, 
has  not  frittered  av/ay.  And  yet  we  are  to  be  told,  that 
*'  the  unity  which  it  proposed  was  real."  If  such  was  the 
case,  it  certainly  never  carried  into  effect  what  it  had 
proposed. 

The  only  principle  of  unity  possible  among  Protestants, 
is  an  agreement  to  disagree.  But  we  are  prepared  to 
prove,  that  they  were  not  disposed  to  meet  even  on  this 
slippery  ground  of  union.  One  would  have  thought,  that 
when  the  reformation  emancipated  its  disciples  from  the 
duty  of  obedience  to  Rome,  and  proclaimed  the  principle  of 
private  judgment  as  the  broad  basis — the  magna  charta — 
of  the  new  system  of  Christian  liberty,  that  it  would  at 
least  have  guaranteed  to  them  freedom  of  thought  and 
judgment  in  matters  of  religion.  Surely  after  having  in- 
dignantly rejected  the  principle  of  church  authority,  as 
incompatible  with  liberty,  Protestantism  would  not  attempt 
to  enthrone  again  this  self  same  principle,  and  to  impose 
it  as  an  obligation  on  its  own  followers. 

Yet  this  course,  absurd  and  inconsistent  as  it  was  on 
the  very  face  of  it,  was  the  very  one  adopted,  without  an 
exception,  by  the  numerous  sects  to  which  the  reformation 
gave  birth  !  If  there  be  any  truth  in  history,  the  reformers 
themselves  were  the  most  intolerant  of  men,  not  only 
towards  the  Catholic  church,  but  towards  each  other. 
They  could  not  brook  dissent  from  the  crude  notions  on 
religion  which  they  had  broached.  Men  might  protest 
against  the  decisions  of  the  Catholic  church;  but  wo  to 
them,  if,  following  their  own  private  judgment,  they  dared 
protest  against  the  self-constituted  authority  of  the  new- 
fangled Protestant  sects.  We  have  already  given  many 
proofs  of  this  :  but  we  here  beg  leave  to  submit  the  follow- 


INFLUENCE  OF  THE  REFORM  ON  RELIGIOUS  LIBERTY.       251 

ing  additional  facts.  And  we  will  allege  little  but  Pro- 
testant authority,  and  the  testimony  of  the  reformers 
themselves. 

Mr.  Roscoe,  whose  pen  has  so  glowingly  depicted  the 
bright  literary  age  of  Leo  X,  justly  censures  *'  the  severity 
with  which  Luther  treated  those,  who  unfortunately  hap- 
pened to  believe  too  much  on  the  one  hand,  or  too  little 
on  the  other,  and  could  not  walk  steadily  on  the  hair- 
breadth line  which  he  had  presented."  He  also  makes 
this  appropriate  remark  on  the  same  feature  of  inconsis- 
tency:  "whilst  Luther  was  engaged  in  his  opposition  to 
the  church  of  Rome,  he  asserted  the  right  of  private  judg- 
ment with  the  confidence  and  courage  of  a  martyr.  But  no 
sooner  had  he  freed  his  followers  from  the  chains  of  papal 
domination,  than  he  forged  others  in  many  respects  equally 
intolerable ;  and  it  was  the  employment  of  his  latter  years, 
to  counteract  the  beneficial  effects  produced  by  his  former 
labors."* 

The  tyrannical  and  intolerant  character  of  Luther,  the 
father  of  the  reformation,  is  in  fact  admitted  by  all  can- 
did Protestants.  We  have  already  seen  the  testimony 
which  his  most  favored  disciple,  Melancthon,  bears  to  his 
brutal  conduct  even  towards  himself,  whenever  he  timidly 
ventured  to  differ  from  him  in  opinion.  The  vile  state  of 
bondage  in  which  the  fierce  reformer  held  his  meek  disci- 
ple is  thus  graphically  painted  in  a  confidential  letter  of 
Melancthon  to  his  friend  Camerarius:  **  I  am  in  a  state  of 
servitude,  as  if  I  were  in  the  cave  of  the  Cyclops:  and 
often  do  I  think  of  making  my  escape."!  Even  Dr. 
Sturges,  a  most  inveterate  enemy  of  Rome,  grants  that 
"Luther  was,  in  his  manners  and  writings,  coarse,  pre- 
suming,  and  impetuous.":!: 

The  other  reformers  were  little  better  than  Luther  in 
regard  to  charity  and  toleration.     The  Protestant  bishop 

*  "Life  and  Pontificate  of  Leo  X,"  4  vols.  8vo. 
I  Epist.  ad  Camerarium. 
X  Reflections  on  Popci y. 


253  d'aubicne's  history  reviewed. 

Warburton,  ^Ives  the  following  character  of  all  of  them. 
"The  other  reformers,  such  as  Luther,  Calvin,  and  their 
followers,  understood  so  little  in  what  true  Christianity 
consisted,  that  thej  carried  with  them  into  the  reformed 
churches,  that  very  spirit  of  persecution  (!)  which  had 
driven  them  from  the  church  of  Rome."*  As  we  shall 
soon  see,  the  recreant  daughters  of  Rome  far  outstripped 
their  mother  in  intolerance.  We  have  already  proved,  that 
it  was  not  persecution,  but  other  causes  altogether,  which 
drove  them  from  Rome,  and  consummated  their  schism. 
Rome  had  indeed  been  inflexible  on  the  subject  of  doc- 
trines, upon  which  she  could  allow  no  compromise ;  but 
she  proceeded  towards  the  reformers  with  so  much  mild- 
ness and  moderation,  as  to  have  secured  the  admiration  of 
even  M.  D'Aubigne,  whose  testimony  on  the  subject  we 
have  already  given.  So  far  was  she  from  persecuting  them, 
that  many  Catholic  writers  have  blamed  as  excessive  and 
injudicious,  the  mildness  of  her  pontiffs,  and  especially  of 
Leo  X,  and  Adrian  VL 

From  an  early  period  of  its  history,  the  reformation  was 
disgraced  with  the  crime  of  persecution  for  conscience' 
sake.  The  oldest  branch  of  it,  the  Lutheran,  not  only 
fiercely  denounced,  and  even  sometimes  excluded  from 
salvation,  the  reformed  or  Calvinistic  branch;  but  it  also 
endeavored  to  check  by  violence  the  fierce  discord  which 
rao-ed  within  its  own  bosom.  A  learned  Lutheran  profes- 
sor, Dr.  Fecht,  gives  it  as  the  opinion  of  his  sect,  '*  that 
all  but  Lutherans,  and  certainly  all  the  reformed  Calvin- 
ists  were  excluded  from  salvation.'-f  The  Lutheran 
Strigel  was  imprisoned  for  three  years  by  his  brother  reli- 
gionists, for  maintaining  that  man  was  not  merely  passive 
in  the  work  of  his  conversion.  Hardenburg  was  banished 
from  Saxony  for  having  been  guilty  of  some  leaning  to- 
wards the  Calvinistic  doctrines  on  the  eucharist.     Shortly 

*  Notes  on  Pope's  Essay  on  Criticism. 

t  See  Dr.  Pusey's  "  Historical  Inquiry,"  sup.  cit. 


INFLUENCE  OF  THE  REFORM  ON  RELIGIOUS  LIBERTY.       253 

after  Luther's  death,  the  Lutherans  were  divided  into 
two  great  sects,  the  ultra  Lutherans  and  the  Melanctho- 
nians,  who  mutually  denounced  each  other,  and  even  re- 
fused to  unite  in  the  rites  of  communion  and  burial.  So 
far  was  the  intolerance  sjrowing  out  of  this  controversy 
carried,  that  Peucer,  Melancthon's  son-in-law,  was  impri- 
soned for  ten  years,  for  having  espoused  the  party  of  his 
fiither-in-law  :  and  Cracau,  another  Lutheran,  was  plied 
with  the  torture  for  a  similar  offence  !  Besides  these  two 
great  Lutheran  sects,  there  were  also  the  Flaccianists  and 
the  Strigelians — the  Osiandrians  and  the  Stancarians — 
and  many  others,  who  persecuted  each  other  with  relent- 
less fury.  Lutheranism  was  thus,  from  its  very  birth,  a 
prey  to  the  fiercest  dissensions.  Verily,  they  claimed 
and  exercised  the  liberty  of  "  combating,"  so  essential, 
according  to  M.  D'Aubigne,  to  the  Protestant  theory  of 
religious  liberty.* 

The  first  who  dared  question  the  infallibility  of  Luther 
was  the  first  to  feel  the  heavy  weight  of  his  intolerant 
vengeance.  Andrew  Bodenstein,  more  generally  known 
by  the  name  of  Karlstadt,  could  not  agree  with  him  as  to 
the  lawfulness  of  images,  on  the  real  presence,  on  infant 
baptism,  and  on  some  other  topics.  He  had  reached  dif- 
ferent conclusions,  by  following  his  own  private  judgment 
in  expounding  the  Scriptures.  During  Luther's  absence 
from  Wittemberg,  he  had  sought  to  make  proselytes  to  his 
new  opinions  in  the  very  citadel  of  the  reformation.  Lu- 
ther caused  him  to  be  driven  from  Wittemberg,  and  hunted 
him  down  with  implacable  resentment,  driving  him  from 
city  to  city  of  Germany;  till  at  last  the  unfortunate  vic- 
tim of  his  intolerance  expired  a  miserable  outcast  at  Basle 
in  Switzerland. 

When  Karlstadt  first  left  Wittemberg,  he  fled  to  Orla- 
munde,  a  city  of  Saxony,  in  which  he  succeeded   by  in- 

*  For  more  on  this  subject,  see  the  authorities  quoted  by  Moore. — 
"Travels  of  an  Irish  Gentleman,"  p.  172,  seqq.,  and  192,  seqq. 

22 


254  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

trigue  in  obtaining  the  place  of  pastor.  Luther  followed 
him  thither;  and  finding,  as  we  have  already  seen,  that  he 
could  not  succeed  in  having  him  ejected  from  the  city  by 
popular  clamor,  he  prevailed  on  his  powerful  patron,  the 
Elector  of  Saxony,  to  banish  him  from  Saxony.  Karlstadt 
received  the  sentence  of  his  condemnation  with  a  heavy 
heart :  **  he  looked  on  Luther  as  the  author  of  his  disgrace, 
and  filled  Germany  with  his  complaints  and  lamentations. 
He  wrote  a  farewell  letter  to  his  friends  at  Orlamunde. 
The  bells  were  tolled,  and  the  letter  read  in  the  presence 
of  the  sorrowing  church.  It  was  signed  :  '  Andrew  Bo- 
denstein,  expelled  by  Luther,  unconvicted,  and  without 
even  a  hearing.'"* 

It  is  in  vain  for  M.  D'Aubigne,  whose  words  we  have 
just  cited,  to  pretend  that  this  persecution  of  Karlstadt 
was  not  brought  about  by  Luther.t  The  testimony  of 
Karlstadt,  and  of  all  Germany,  to  the  sympathy  of  which 
he  appealed,  as  well  as  the  voice  of  all  history,  is  against 
this  hypothesis.  So  certain  was  it,  that  he  owed  his  suf- 
ferings to  the  influence  of  Luther  with  the  Elector  of 
Saxony,  that,  when  wearied  of  his  wanderings  from  city 
to  city,  he  sought  repose  for  his  gray  hairs  in  his  native 
Saxony,  he  had  only  to  invoke  the  sympathy  of  Luther. 
The  sternness  of  the  Saxon  monk  relented  :  he  permitted 
Karlstadt  to  return  to  the  neighborhood  of  Wittemberg; 
but  only  on  condition  that  he  should  retract  his  errors, 
and  cease  to  preach. |  Karlstadt  joyfully  accepted  the 
humiliating  conditions:  he  resided  for  some  time  *' in  a 
kind  of  domestic  exile  at  Remberg  and  Bergwitz — two 
small  villages,  whence  he  could  just  see  the  steeples  of  Wit- 
temberg."§  But  he  soon  forgot  his  promise  :  he  abandoned 
the  agricultural  pursuits  in  which  he  had  been  engaged, 

*  D'Aubigne  iii,  170.    He  cites  Luther's  Epist.  ii,  558,  edit,  de  Wette. 
t  Ibid. 

X  Gustavus  Pfizer — ^'Martin  Lutlier's  Leiben,"  UJenberg — and  Ad. 
Menzel — "Neuere  Geschichtc  der  Deutchen''  1,  2G9. 
§  Audin,  p.  419. 


INFLUENCE  OF  THE  REFORM  ON  RELIGIOUS  LIBERTY.      Q55 

and,  Bible  in  hand,  sought  again  to  disseminate  his  doc- 
trines. Luther's  spirit  of  intolerance  was  again  aroused; 
and  again  was  Karlstadt  banished,  never  more  to  return 
to  Wittemberg ! 

There  were  two  other  Lutheran  theologians  who  shared 
his  fate:  Krautwald  and  Schwenkfeld,  who  were  likewise 
forced  to  quit  Saxonj  for  having  rebelled  against  the  au- 
thority of  the  Saxon  monk.  In  a  letter  to  these  compan- 
ions in  misfortune,  Karlstadt  draws  a  lively  picture  of  the 
distress  to  wliich  he  had  been  reduced  by  the  intolerance 
of  Luther:  "  I  shall  soon  be  forced,"  says  he,  "to  sell 
all,  in  order  to  support  myself — my  clothes,  my  delf,  all 
my  furniture.  No  one  takes  pity  on  me;  and  I  fear  that 
both  I  and  my  child  shall  perish  with  hunger."*  He  also 
addressed  a  long  letter  of  complaint  against  Luther,  to 
Briick,  the  Chancellor  of  Saxony  :t  but  it  was  all  unavail- 
ing: Luther  was  omnipotent  at  court,  and  Karlstadt 
perished  in  exile.  Why  does  M.  D'Aubigne  conceal  all 
these  important  facts  ?  We  are  not  astonished  at  it :  his 
whole  history  is  of  the  same  unfair  and  partial  character 
throughout.  In  fact,  our  chief  object  in  writing  this  re- 
view is  to  supply  his  manifold  omissions. 

The  cruel  persecutions  of  the  Anabaptists  is  another 
dark  page  in  the  history  of  the  reformation.  To  be  sure, 
these  sectarists  taught  many  things  subversive  of  all  social 
order:  such  as  polygamy  and  disobedience  to  all  consti- 
tuted authority.  But  their  chief  crimes,  in  the  eyes  of 
Luther  and  the  reformers,  were  their  rejection  of  Luther's 
authority,  their  pretensions  to  supernatural  lights,  and 
their  protest  against  infant  baptism,  and  baptism  by  any 
other  mode  than  immersion.  A  little  before  the  meeting 
of  the  Diet  at  Augsburg  in  15S4,  Rothmann,  one  of  their 
principal  prophets,  had  openly  announced  his  principles 
in  the  streets  of  the  city.  The  people  were  captivated  by 
his  bold  eloquence,  aud  seduced  by  the  novelty  of  his  doc- 

♦  Apud  Audin,  p.  420.  t  l^id. 


256 

trines.  In  vain  did  the  preachers  of  reform  attempt  to 
argue  with  this  enthusiast,  who  claimed  immediate  inspi- 
ration from  heaven.  The  people  cried  out,  in  triumph ; 
*'  answer  Rothmann:  Catholics,  Lutherans,  Zuinglians — 
Tou  are  all  in  the  way  of  perdition.  The  only  path  to 
heaven  is  that  pointed  out  by  our  master:  whoever  walks 
not  in  it,  will  be  involved  in  eternal  darkness."* 

But  the  Lutherans  did  not  think  proper  to  answer  his 
arguments.  Both  he  and  the  Zuinglians  had  prepared  a 
confession  of  faith  to  be  presented  to  the  Diet.  Luther 
and  Melancthon  succeeded  by  their  influence  in  prevent- 
ino;  them  from  beino-  even  heard  at  the  Diet.  The  former 
wrote  to  the  latter  from  Coburg  in  a  tone  of  triumph  :  "that 
all  was  decided ;  that  the  doctrine  of  Zuingle  and  of 
Rothmann  was  diabolical ;  and  that  these  sowers  of  discord, 
these  ravenous  wolves,  who  devastated  the  fold  of  Christ, 
should  be  banished."!  At  that  same  Diet,  the  Lutherans 
Fought  for  themselves,  not  only  liberty  of  conscience,  but 
churches  to  worship  in,  and  all  the  privileges  of  citizen- 
ship; and  still  they  would  not  allow  their  adversaries  even 
to  be  heard  !  And  yet,  as  M.  Audin  well  remarks,  "  Roth- 
mann at  Augsburg,  was  precisely  wliat  Luther  had  been 
at  Worms''^ 

The  Lutherans  carried  out  their  intolerant  principles 
in  regard  to  the  Anabaptists.  On  the  7th  of  August,  1536, 
a  synod  was  convened  at  Hamburg,  to  which  deputies 
were  sent  by  all  the  cities  who  had  separated  from  Rome. 
The  chief  object  of  the  meeting  was  to  devise  means  for 
exterminating  the  Anabaptists.  Not  one  voice  was  raised 
in  their  favor.  Even  Melancthon,  whom  M.  Audin  styles 
**  the  Fenelon  of  the  reformation,"  voted  for  inflicting  the 
punishment  of  death  on  every  Anabaptist  v. ho  would  re- 
main obstinate  in  his  errors,  or  would   dare  return  from 

*  See  Catrou — Histoire  de  PAnabaptisme,  and  Audin,  p.  4C9. 
t  Apiid  Audin,  Ibid.     See  the  authorities  he  quotes.  Ibid, 
t  P.  4C0. 


INFLUENCE   OF  THE  REFORM  ON  RELIGIOUS  LIBERTY.       257 

the  place  of  banishment  to  which  the  magistrates  might 
transport  him.  Fenelon  would  not  have  been  thus  intol- 
erant. "The  ministers  of  Ulm  demanded  that  heresy 
should  be  extinguished  by  fire  and  sword.  Those  of  Augs- 
burg said  :  '  if  we  have  not  yet  sent  any  Anabaptist  to  the 
gibbet,  we  have  at  least  branded  their  cheeks  with  red 
iron.'  Those  of  Tubingen  cried  out  *  mercy  for  the  poor 
Anabaptists,  who  are  seduced  by  their  leaders;  but  death 
to  the  ministers  of  this  sect.  The  chancellor  showed 
himself  much  more  tolerant:  he  wished  that  the  Anabap- 
tists should  be  imprisoned,  where  by  dint  of  hard  usage, 
they  might  be  converted."* 

From  the  Synod  emanated  a  decree,  from  which  we  will 
present  the  following  extract,  as  a  specimen  of  Lutheran 
intolerance  officially  proclaimed.  *'  Whoever  rejects  in- 
fant baptism — whoever  transgresses  the  orders  of  the 
magistrates — whoever  preaches  against  taxes — whoever 
teaches  the  community  of  goods — whoever  usurps  the 
priesthood — whoever  holds  unlawful  assemblies — whoever 
sins  against  faith — shall  he  punished  ivith  death.  ...  As 
for  the  simple  people  who  have  not  preached,  or  adminis- 
tered baptism,  but  who  were  seduced  to  permit  themselves 
to  frequent  the  assemblies  of  the  heretics,  if  they  do  not 
wish  to  renounce  Anabaptism,  they  shall  be  scourged, 
punished  with  perpetual  exile,  and  even  with  death,  if  they 
return  three  times  to  the  place  whence  they  have  been  ex- 
pelled."! 

Philip,  Landgrave  of  Hesse,  professed  to  have  some 
scruples  of  conscience  (!)  on  the  severity  of  this  decree:  he 
consulted  Luther  on  the  subject.  The  monk  answered 
him  in  a  letter  dated  from  VVittemberg,  the  Monday  after 
Pentecost  of  the  same  year.  He  openly  defends  persecu- 
tion on  Scriptural  grounds  :  "  whoever  denies  the  doctrines 

*  Catrou  ut  supra  11  v.  1,  p,  224,  seqq.,  and  Audin,  p.  464. 
t   Ibid.     See  also  Gastius,  p.  363,  seqq.     Menzel  ut  supra,  and  Me- 
shovius,  1.  V,  cap.  xv,  xviii,  seqq.,  &,c. 
22* 


258  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

of  our  faith — aje,  even  one  article  vvliich  rests  on  the 
Scripture,  or  the  authority  of  the  universal  teaching  of  the 
church  (!),  must  be  punished  severely.  He  must  be  treated 
not  only  as  a  heretic,  but  also  as  a  blasphemer  of  the  holy 
name  of  God.  It  is  not  necessary  to  lose  time  in  disputes 
with  such  people:  they  are  to  be  condemned  as  impious 
blasphemers."  Towards  the  close  of  his  letter,  speaking 
of  a  false  teacher,  he  says  :  "drive  him  away,  as  an  apostle 
of  hell  :  and  if  he  does  not  flee,  deliver  him  up  as  a  sedi- 
tious man  to  the  executioner."*  The  Landgrave's  scruples 
were  quieted,  and  Luther's  advice  was  acted  on. 

Such  then  were  the  tender  mercies  of  the  reformation  ! 
Such  the  notions  of  the  reformers  on  religiousiiberty  !  How 
diflferent  from  those  specious  principles  of  universal  liberty 
by  which  they  had  allured  multitudes  to  their  standard  ! 

The  other  reformers  were  not  a  whit  better  than  Luther 
in  regard  to  toleration.  M.  D'Aubigne  himself  says,  that 
at  Zurich  fourteen  men  and  seven  women  "  were  impri- 
soned on  an  allowance  of  bread  and  water  in  the  heretics' 
tower. "t  True,  he  says,  that  this  was  done  "in  spite  of 
Zuingle's  entreaties  ;"±  but  he  gives  no  authority  what- 
ever for  this  statement.  We  know  that  Zuingle  was 
almost  omnipotent  at  Zurich,  which  was  to  Switzerland, 
what  Wittemberg  was  to  Germany.  Had  he  reciUij  wished 
it,  he  might  surely  have  prevented  this  cruelty.  He  had 
indeed  complained  of  Luther's  intolerance,  when  he  was 
the  victim  of  it.  In  a  German  work  published  at  Zurich 
in  1526,  he  had  used  this  language  in  regard  to  the  course 
pursued  by  Luther  and  his  party  :  "see  then,  how  these 
men,  who  owe  all  to  the  Word,  would  wish  now  to  close 
the  mouths  of  their  opponents,  who  are  at  the  same  time 
their  fellow  Christians.  They  cry  out  that  we  are  here- 
tics, and  that  we  should  not  be  listened  to.  They  pro- 
scribe our  books,  and  denounce  us  to  the  magistrates."§ 

*  Lulh.  Comment,  in  Psal.  71.     0pp.  Jenas  torn,  v,  p.  147.    Apud 
Audin,  p.  465. 

t  ni,  307.  X  Ibid.  ^  Apud  Audin,  p.  411. 


INFLUENCE  OF  THE  REFORM  ON  RELICTOUS  LIBERTY.      259 

But  when  his  star  culminated,  he  was  as  fierce  a  bigot, 
and  as  intolerant  a  tyrant  as  those  brother  reformers  whom 
he  thus  denounced.  Did  lie  not  die  on  tlie  field  of  battle, 
fighting  for  his  peculiar  ideas  of  reform  ?  And  did  not 
the  Protestants  of  Geneva  throw  the  poor  Anabaptists 
into  the  Rhine,  enclosed  in  sacks,  and  jeer  them  at  the 
same  time  by  the  inhuman  taunt,  "  that  they  were  merely 
baptizing  tliem  by  their  own  favorite  method  of  im- 
mersion."* 

This  reminds  us  of  a  curious  passage  in  the  history  of 
early  Lutheranism,  which  we  will  here  give  on  the  autho- 
rity of  Florimond  Remond,  almost  a  cotemporary  histo- 
rian.! Franz  Yon  Sickengen,  the  chief  actor  in  the 
scene  we  are  about  to  present,  was  a  disciple  of  Luther 
who  had  dedicated  to  him  his  treatise  on  confession, 
written  at  tiie  Wartburg,  in  1521.  "One  day  Franz 
was  going  from  Frankfort  to  Mayence  sur  le  Meine.  A 
Jew  entered  the  boat  with  whom  Franz  began  to  dispute. 
As  he  was  not  able  to  convince  him  by  argument,  he  took 
him  by  the  middle  of  the  body,  and  threw  him  into  tlie 
river;  for  Franz  was  a  man  of  extraordinary  strength. 
Holding  his  victim  suspended  over  the  water  by  the  hair, 
tlie  following  dialogue  took  place:  'Acknowledge  Jesus 
Christ,  or  I  will  drown  you.'  'I  acknowledge  him  to 
be  my  Saviour:  O  dear  master,  do  not  harm  me!'  *  Say 
that  you  wish  to  be  baptized.'  *  Yes,  in  the  name  of  the 
Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost.'  Then 
Franz  took  some  water,  which  he  poured  on  the  head  of 
the  Jew,  while  at  the  same  time  he  pronounced  the  sacra- 
mental words  :  '  I  baptize  thee  in  the  name  of  the  Father, 
and  of  the  S«>n,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost.'  The  poor  Isra- 
elite nov/  made  a  great  effort  to  rise  :  he  clung  to  the  boat, 

*  For  this,  and  for  many  similar  facts,  see  the  authorities  quoted  by 
the  Rev.  John  Hughes— now  the  distinguished  bishop  of  New-York— 
in  his  oral  discussion  with  Rev.  Mr.  Breckenridge,  who  did  not  answer 
them.  We  intend  to  give  chiefly  those  facts  which  did  not  fall  within 
the  scope  of  that  discussion. 

t  "  Huttenus  delarvatus,"  p.  405.     Apud  Audin,  p.  200. 


260  d'aubigxe's  history  reviewed. 

believins:  that  the  time  of  his  deliverance  had  arrived.  The 
knight  however  struck  him  on  the  head  with  his  guantlet, 
saying,  '  go  to  heaven,  there  is  one  soul  more  for  paradise. 
Were  I  to  draw  the  wretch  out  of  the  water,  he  would 
deny  Christ,  and  go  to  the  devil.'  Luther  on  this  occa- 
sion praised  the  zeal  of  Franz  ! 

The  Calvinists  were  at  least  equally  intolerant  with  the 
Lutherans.  When  the  former  gained  the  ascendency  in  a 
portion  of  Germany  in  which  the  latter  had  before  been 
predominant,  they  roused  up  the  people  against  the  sons 
of  the  devil — which  is  the  name  they  gave  the  Lutherans. 
They  drove  them  from  their  posts,  of  which  they  took 
possession.  *  What  a  melancholy  thing  !  More  than  a 
thousand  Lutheran  ministers  were  proscribed,  ivith  their 
wives  and  children,  and  reduced  to  beg  the  bread  of  cha- 
rity,' says  Olearius.*  Calvinism  could  not  tolerate  Lu- 
theranism.  It  had  appealed  to  prince  Casimir,  and  ex- 
pressed its  petition  in  two  Latin  verses,  in  which  the 
prince  was  left  to  choose,  in  extinguishing  the  rival  creed, 
between  the  sword,  the  wheel,  water,  the  rope,  or  fire ! 

O  Casimire  potens,  servos  expelle  Lutheri : 
Ense,  rota,  ponto,  funibus,  igne  neca."t 

So  inflexible  were  the  early  reformers  and  their  disci- 
ples on  the  subject  of  persecution,  that  even  the  emperor 
of  Germany  and  the  authority  of  the  whole  Germanic 
body  could  not  restrain  their  bitter  intolerance  against  all 
who  had  ventured  to  differ  from  their  ideas  of  reform. 
Protestants  were  resolved  to  persecute  each  other,  though 
a  Catholic  power — the  highest  in  the  empire — interposed 
and  commanded  peace.  The  diet  of  Nuremberg,  in  1532, 
had  proclaimed  a  religious  amnesty  throughout  Germany. 
It  wished  to  pour  oil  on  the  boiling  waves  of  controversy, 

*  D.  J.  Olearius— "In  den  mehr  als  200  Irrthiimer  der  Calvinisten," 
t  Salzer — "  In   seinem  Lutherischera   Gegen-Bericht" — Art.  iv,  p. 
385.  Schlosser — "  In  dcr  wahrheit,"  8cc.  ch.  vi,  p.  73.  Hist.,  Aug.  Con- 
fess, fol.  20G,  207,  274,  275.     Apud  Audin,  p.  330. 


INFLUENCE  OF  THE  REFORM  ON  RELIGIOUS  LIBERTY.       261 

in  order  to  still  them:  but  the  waves  would  not  be  qui- 
eted. The  heads  of  the  reformed  party  met  at  Cadan  in 
the  following  year,  and  resolved  to  exclude  from  the 
peace  published  by  the  diet  the  Sacramentarians,  the  Ana- 
baptists, and  other  heterodox  (7ioi  Lutheran)  sects,  whom 
they  declared  they  would  not  tolerate  nor  suffer  to  remain 
in  the  country.* 

If  Protestants  thus  ruthlessly  persecuted  each  other, 
we  might  naturally  suppose  that  they  were  not  more  in- 
dulgent towards  the  Catholics.  We  have  already  proved 
that  the  reformation  was  mainly  indebted  for  its  suc- 
cess to  systematic  persecution  of  the  Catholic  church. 
Wherever  it  made  its  appearance  its  progress  was  marked 
by  deeds  of  violence.  Like  a  tornado,  it  swept  every 
thing  before  it ;  and  you  might  as  easily  trace  its  course 
by  the  ruins  it  left  behind.  Churches  broken  open  and 
desecrated  ;  altars  stripped  of  their  ornaments  or  pulled 
down ;  paintings  and  statues  destroyed  ;  the  monasteries 
entered  by  mobs  and  pillaged  of  their  effects;  Catholic 
priests  and  monks  openly  insulted  and  maltreated;  the 
property  of  the  churches  and  monasteries  seized  on  by 
violence,  after  having  been  often  pillaged  and  plundered  : 
these  were  some  of  the  ruins  which  the  reformation 
caused — these  the  sad  trophies  which  it  erected  to  cele- 
brate its  triumphs  over  the  Catholic  religion  ! 

In  most  places  the  Catholic  worsliip  was  abolished, 
either  by  open  violence,  or  by  the  high-handed  tyranny  of 
the  secular  princes  who  had  embraced  the  reform.  In 
vain  did  Luther  in  his  cooler  moments  protest  against 
these  deeds  of  violence  ;  he  himself,  as  we  have  seen,  had 
evoked  the  storm,  and  he  could  not  calm  it;  probably  he 
did  not  ever  seriously  wish  this,  for  generally  his  language 
to  Ids  followers  had  breathed  nothing  but  violence.  This 
we  have  already  shown. 

It  is  a/emarkable  fact,  as  certain  as  it  is  striking,  that 

•*  See  Robelot— Influence  de  la  Reformation  de  Luther,  p.  71. 


262  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

the  reformers  derived  their  very  name  of  Protestants  from 
this  same  unquenchable  spirit  of  intolerance!  The  diet 
of  Spires  in  1529  had  made  an  effort  to  put  a  stop  to  the 
deeds  of  violence  bj  which  the  reformation  had  desolated 
Germany.  It  had  published  a  decree,  which,  among  other 
things  of  less  importance,  enjoined  that  the  decree  of  the 
diet  of  Worms  in  1521  should  be  observed  in  those  places 
where  it  had  been  already  received  ;  that  where  it  had  not 
been  received,  and  the  ancient  religion  had  been  changed 
in  despite  of  it,  things  sliould  continue  in  statu  quo  till 
the  meeting  of  a  general  council,  which  was  to  decide  on 
the  matters  in  controversy ;  that  the  celebration  of  the 
holy  sacrifice  of  the  mass  should  be  every  where  free ; 
and  that  the  princes  of  the  empire  should  mutually  ob- 
serve peace,  and  should  not  molest  each  other  on  the 
score  of  religion.* 

In  other  words,  the  diet  decreed  that  both  Catholics 
and  the  reformed  party  should  enjoy  freedom  of  worship, 
and  that  neither  should  molest  the  other.  Had  the  re- 
formers been  really  the  advocates  of  religious  liberty, 
the}'  could  have  asked  no  more.  But  they  desired  some- 
thing else :  their  notions  of  Christian  liberty  were  more 
enlarged.  They  desired  freedom  to  pull  down  the  Cath- 
olic altars,  and  to  abolish  the  Catholic  worship  wherever 
they  had  the  power  to  do  so.  Hence,  they  met  imme- 
diately after  the  diet,  and  protested  against  its  most  equi- 
table decree  as  "contrary  to  the  truth  of  the  gospel. "t 
And  hence  their  name  of  Protestants:  a  name  which 
stamped  on  their  foreheads  a  brand  of  intolerance,  of 
which  they  were  not  ashamed  ! 

A  volume  might  be  filled  with  undoubted  facts  proving 
the  intolerant  spirit  of  the  early  Protestants  of  the  va- 
rious nations  of  Europe  against  the  Catholics.  Wherever 
they  had  the  power,  they  persecuted  by  civil  disabilities 

*  See  Sleidan — ad  annum  1529,  lib.  vi.  Also  Natalis  Alexander, 
Hist.  Ecclesiastica,  torn,  i.x:,  fol.  97,  edit.  V^enitiis,  177S;  and  Lingard, 
History  of  England— Henry  VIII ;  and  Audin,  p.  2S9.  \  Ibid. 


INFLUENCE  OF  THE  REFORM  ON  RELIGIOUS  LIBERTY.       263 

and  corporal  punishments;  and  where  they  had  not  the 
power,  they  excited  disturbance  and  persecuted  by  slan- 
der. We  know  of  no  exception  to  this  remark.  Un- 
palatable as  it  may  appear,  it  is  triumphantly  establish- 
ed by  facts  ;  and  we  are  not  free  to  change  the  records 
of  history  to  pander  to  an  over  delicate  and  vitiated  taste. 
Out  of  a  mass  of  evidence  bearing  on  the  subject,  we  will 
select  some  of  the  more  prominent  facts. 

We  have  already  alluded  to  the  overture  for  peace 
made  by  the  Catholics  in  the  diet  of  Nuremberg,  held  in 
1532.  How  was  it  received  by  the  Lutherans?  They 
rejected  it  with  indignation,  not  only  in  the  assembly  at 
Cadan,  but  also  through  their  organ,  Urbanus  Regius. 
Hear  his  language  :  *'  We  must  either  have  peace  with 
the  papists — that  is,  we  must  suffer  the  destruction  of  our 
faith,  our  rights,  our  life,  and  die  as  sinners — or  we  must 
have  peace  with  Christ,  that  is  to  say,  be  hated  by  our 
enemies,  and  live  by  faith.  Which  shall  we  choose  ? 
The  rage  of  the  devil,  the  hostility  of  the  world,  a  strug- 
gle with  antichrist,  or  the  protection  of  heaven,  and  life 
through  Christ?''* 

Luther  openly  defended  the  violence  by  which  the 
Catholic  worship  had  been  suppressed,  and  the  monaste- 
ries seized  upon  and  secularized.  He  was  consulted  on 
the  subject,  and  this  was  his  reply  :  *'  It  is  said  that  no 
violence  should  be  used  for  conscience'  sake;  and  yet 
have  not  our  princes  driven  away  the  monks  from  their 
asylum  ?  Yes  :  we  must  not  oblige  any  one  to-  believe 
our  doctrine  ;  we  have  never  done  violence  to  the  con- 
sciences of  others  (!) ;  but  it  would  be  a  crime  not  to  pre- 
vent our  doctrine  from  being  profaned.  To  remove  scan- 
dal is  not  to  force  the  conscience.  I  cannot  force  a  rosue 
to  be  honest,  but  I  can  prevent  him  from  stealing.  A 
prince  cannot  constrain  a  highway  robber  to  confess  the 
Lord,  butyel  he  has  a  gallows  for  malefiictors."  Strange 
casuistry  !  Curious  theory  of  religious  liberty  ! 
*  Seckeiidorf — "  Comment,  de  Luth."  lib.  iii,  p.  22. 


264  d''aubigne*3  history  reviewed. 

He  continues:  *'  Thus,  when  our  princes  were  not  cer- 
tain that  the  monastic  life  and  private  masses  were  an 
offence  to  God,  thej  would  have^^sinned  had  thev  closed 
the  convents;  but  after  they  have  been  enlightened,  and 
have  seen  that  the  cloister  and  the  mass  are  an  insult  to 
the  Deity,  they  would  have  been  culpable  had  they  not 
employed  the  power  they  had  received  to  proscribe  them.^^* 

In  the  f;imous  convention  at  Sinalkald,  in  1536,  the 
Protestant  party  decided  on  a  recourse  to  arms  to  defend 
themselves,  that  is,  to  be  enabled  to  carry  out  their  plan 
of  establishing  the  reformation  by  violence  on  the  ruins 
of  Catholic  institutions.  They  proclaimed  that  **  it  was 
an  error  to  believe  that  they  ought  to  tolerate  among  them 
those  who  opposed  the  reform. "t  In  an  imperial  citation 
addressed  to  the  citizens  of  Donauvvert  in  1605,  they  are 
reproached  with  having  driven  from  their  city,  as  atro- 
cious malefactors,!  those  of  their  fellow  citizens  who  had 
espoused  Catholics,  or  embraced  the  Catholic  religion. § 
Again,  at  a  session  of  the  famous  congress  of  Westphalia, 
in  March,  1647,  Trautmansdorf  openly  accused  the  Pro- 
testant party  of  having  driven  Catholic  laymen  from  their 
dominions,  after  having  confiscated  their  property ."[| 

This  spirit  of  persecution  has  been  perpetuated,  with 
some  modifications,  even  to  the  present  day.  Erasmus 
had  remarked  of  Luther  that  his  savage  nature  had  not 
been  softened  even  by  the  blandishments  of  matrimony; 
and  we  may  remark  that  the  fierce  intolerance  of  the  early 
reformation  has  not  been  much  mitigated  by  the  growing 
refinement  of  the  age  ! 

Even  as  late  as  the  battle  of  Jena,  in  1806,  Catholics 
could  not  own  property  in  Saxony,  nor  hold  public  of- 
fices, nor  enjoy  any  of  the  rights  of  citizenship.^  This 
was  also  the  case  in  Prussia;  and  even  in  our  own  day, 
have  we  not  seen  a  venerable  octogenarian,  the  archbishop 

*Luth.  0pp.  edit.  Wittemb.ix,  455.  f  See  Robelot  ut  sup.  p.  71. 

X  Jtrocissime  delinquentes.         §  Ibid.  ||  Ibid.  72.        IT  lb.  70. 


INFLUENCE  OF  THE  REFORM  ON  RELIGIOUS  LIBKRTY.       265 

of  Cologne,  violently  dra^gecl  from  his  palace  by  a  band 
of  soldiers,  in  the  dead  hour  of  night,  and  confined  for 
years  in  a  stale  prison,  by  order  of  the  king  of  Prussia, 
and  all  this  fur  no  other  offence  than  that  his  conscience 
did  not  allow  him  to  subscribe  to  the  religious  creed  of 
his  royal  master? 

In  the  imperial  city  of  Frankfort  sur  le  Meine,  Catho- 
lics were  not  eligible  to  any  municipal  offices.  Even  as 
late  as  the  20th  of  October,  1814,  no  others  than  Luther- 
ans of  the  confession  of  Augsburg  were  eligible  to  any 
civil  office  in  the  free  city  of  Hamburg.*  In  Sweden  it 
is  strictly  forbidden  for  any  Protestant  to  embrace  the 
Catholic  reliiiion,  though  Catholics  are  encouraged  to  be- 
come Protestants.  No  Catholic  can  there  hold  any  office 
of  trust  or  emolument.  The  same  intolerant  laws  are  in 
force  in  Denmark  and  Norv/ay. 

In  these  last  named  kingdoms,  religious  persecution,  in 
one  form  or  other,  has  continued  even  to  the  present  day. 
In  many  of  the  other  Protestant  kingdoms  of  Germany, 
the  penal  laws  against  Catholics  were  softened  down 
after  the  famous  congress  of  Vienna,  in  1815,  had  settled 
the  general  peace  of  Europe.  Yet  the  refinement  of 
modern  civilization  has  not  been  able  wholly  to  exorcise 
the  demon  of  intolerance.  It  still  exists,  to  a  greater  or 
less  extent,  in  every  Protestant  country  of  Europe. 

But  the  other  day,  when  the  Roman  pontiff*  nominated 
a  bishop  to  attend  to  the  spiritual  wants  of  a  large  body 
of  Catholics  living  in  the  kingdom  of  Denmark,  the  go- 
vernment organ  at  Copenhagen  republished  an  old  law  of 
the  kingdom,  which  made  it  a  capital  offence  for  a  Catho- 
lic clergyman  or  bishop  to  cross  the  border  !  When  the 
celebrated  M.  De  Haller  embraced  the  Catholic  religion, 
in  1821,  the  grand  council  of  Berne,  in  Switzerland,  had 
his  name  stricken  from  the  list  of  its  members,  and  re- 
vived the  old  law  of  the  canton  by  which  no  Catholic  is 
eligible  to  ofiice.t 

*  See  apricl  Robelot,  ibid.  f  Ibid. 

23 


266  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

In  one  word,  not  to  multiply  facts,  Protestants  have 
been  guilty  of  persecution  in  every  country  of  Europe 
where  they  have  had  the  power,  not  only  against  the  Cath- 
olic church,  but  against  each  other  :  and  their  intolerance, 
though  greatly  mitigated,  is  yet  even  at  this  day  far  from 
being  extinct. 

Catholics  also,  we  must  admit,  have  frequently  perse- 
cuted ;  and,  far  from  justifying  them  for  so  doing,  we  sin- 
cerely condemn  them  for  their  conduct,  [t  was  justified 
by  no  law  of  their  church  ;  it  was  wholly  at  variance  with 
the  mild  teachings  of  the  Christian  religion.  Yet  every 
impartial  person  must  allow  that  the  circumstances  under 
which  Catholics  persecuted  were  not  so  aggravated,  nor  so 
wholly  without  excuse,  as  those  under  which  they  were 
persecuted  by  Protestants.  They  were  on  the  defensive, 
while  these  were  in  almost  every  instance  the  first  ag- 
gressors. They  did  but  repel  violence  by  violence,  when 
their  property,  their  altars,  and  all  they  held  sacred,  were 
rudely  invaded  by  the  new  religionists,  under  pretext  of 
reform.  Their  acts  of  severity  were  often  deemed  neces- 
sary measures  of  precaution  against  the  deeds  of  lawless 
violence  which  every  where  marked  the  progress  of  re- 
form. They  did  but  seek  the  privilege  of  retaining  qui- 
etly the  religion  of  their  fathers,  which  the  reformers 
would  fain  have  wrested  from  them  by  violence.  They 
were  the  older,  and  they  were  in  possession.*  Could  it 
be  expected  that  they  would  yield  without  a  struggle 
all  that  they  held  most  dear  and  most  sacred  ?  These 
were  extenuatina;  circumstances,  which,  though  they  did 
not  justify  their  intolerance,  yet  greatly  mitigated  its 
malice,  while  the  reformers  could  allege  no  such  pretext. 
Much  has  been  written  about  the  Spanish  inquisition, 
and  the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew's  day.     We  justify 

*  In  the  Synod  of  Dort  in  1618,  the  Gomarists  used"  this  very  argu- 
ment to  justify  their  persecution  of  their  brother  Protestants,  the  Armi- 
nians. — Sess.  xvii. 


INFLUENCE  OF  THE  REFORM  ON  RELIGIOUS  LIBERTY.       267 

neither.  To  the  former  we  have  devoted  a  separate 
essay  ;*  for  the  latter  we  have  an  ample  set-ofFin  the  ter- 
rible massacres  of  the  Catholics,  perpetrated  in  various 
parts  of  France,  and  especially  in  that  at  Nismes,  on  the 
feast  of  St.  Michael,  in  1566.  This  dreadful  micheladey 
as  it  is  called  by  the  French  historians,  was  as  tragical  at 
least  as  the  massacre  at  Paris  on  St.  Bartholomew's  day 
in  1571,  five  years  later. 

It  is  a  remarkable  fact,  and  one  that  does  infinite  credit 
to  the  clergy  and  Catholics  of  Nismes,  that  when  the  or- 
der for  massacreing  the  Protestants  of  that  city  arrived 
from  Paris,  a  few^ays  after  the  tragedy  of  St.  Bartholo- 
mew's day,  the  Catholics  of  the  city,  with  M.  Villars, 
the  vicar  general  of  the  diocess,  at  their  head,  repaired  in 
a  body  to  the  governor,  and  petitioned  for  a  suspension  of 
the  execution  until  the  French  monarch  could  be  properly 
enlightened  on  the  subject.  The  interposition  was  success- 
ful. Charles  IX,  in  his  cooler  moments,  revoked  the  ini- 
quitous decree,  and  conceived  sentiments  more  just  and 
Christian.  Thus  the  Protestants  of  Nismes,  who  had  but 
five  years  before  cruelly  butchered  their  Catholic  fellow 
citizens,  were  saved  from  destruction  !  And  thus  were 
the  Catholics  avenged  !t  Similar  interpositions,  with 
similar  success,  were  made  by  the  Catholic  clergy  and 
people  in  other  cities  of  France.:}: 

Perhaps  the  most  remarkable  feature  in  the  Protestant 
governments  of  Europe  is  the  union  in  them  of  church 
and  state.  This  unhallowed  union  began  at  the  period  of 
the  reformation ;  and  it  subsists  even  to  this  day.  In 
Prussia,  Sweden,  Denmark,  Holland,  and  England,  the 
king  is  at  the  same  time  the  head  of  the  state  and  of  the 

*  See  the  Essay  on  the  Spanish  Inquisition,  published  in  the  U.  States 
Catholic  Magazine,  August  No.,  1843. 

t  See  Robelot  sup.  c'li.  p.  75,  note, 

%  See  Lingard's  excellent  Essay  on  the  Massacre  of  St.  Bartholo- 
mew, and  his  triumphant  reply  to  the  strictures  of  the  Edinburg  Re- 
view, in  liis  History  of  England — Elizabeth. 


268  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

church  established  by  law.  It  is  his  province  to  regulate 
every  thing  connected  with  the  preaching  of  the  word, 
the  administration  of  the  sacraments,  and  the  appointment 
of  bishops  and  pastors.  Even  in  those  cantons  of  Swit- 
zerland in  which  the  reformation  obtained  a  footino-,  the 
legislative  councils  claim  to  this  day  a  right  to  interfere 
in  spiritual  matters;  and  the  Catholics  of  Argovia  and 
other  cantons  have  very  recently  felt  the  smart  of  their 
intolerant  interference. 

Every  body  knows  the  high-handed  measures  by  which 
the  late  king  of  Prussia,  but  a  few  years  ago,  souglit  to 
unite  into  one  '*  national  church  of  Prussia"  the  two  con- 
flicting parties  of  religionists  in  his  kingdom,  the  Luther- 
ans and  the  Calvinists.  This  political  manoeuvre,  to 
effect  by  force  a  compromise  between  two  warring  sects, 
displeased  them  both,  as  might  have  been  expected;  and 
many  of  the  ejected  ministers  of  both  parties,  but  espe- 
cially of  the  Lutheran,  sought  shelter  from  the  storm  on 
our  shores.  The  success  of  the  attempt  made  by  the  court 
of  Berlin  on  the  religious  liberties  of  Prussia,  proves  con- 
clusively, that  there  at  least  the  church  is  but  the  creature 
of  the  state — meanly  subservient  to  all  its  high  behests. 

Every  one  also  knows,  that  the  persecution  of  the  Ca- 
tholics of  Belgium  by  the  Protestant  government  of  Hol- 
land led  to  the  recent  declaration  of  independence  by  the 
former  government:  and  that  a^ter  the  declaration  had 
been  made  good,  the  Belgians  elected  a  Protestant,  prince 
Leopold,  for  their  sovereign.  Can  the  annals  of  Protest- 
antism aftbrd  an  example  of  liberality  like  this  ?  At  least, 
we  have  never  heard  of  a  Protestant  community  volunta- 
rily choosing  a  Catholic  sovereign. 

If  the  reformation  was  favorable  to  religious  liberty, 
why,  we  ask,  did  it  bring  about  a  union  of  church  and 
state  in  every  country  where  it  was  established  ?  Why 
did  it  every  where  persecute  ?  It  is  curious  to  trace  the 
origin  of  this  mean  subserviency  of  the  Protestant  sects  to 


INFLUENCE  OF  THE  REFORM  ON   RELIGIOUS  LIBERTY.       269 

the  princes,  who  caused  them  to  be  introduced  into  their 
states. 

The  reformers  preached  up  freedom  from  the  alleged 
tyranny  of  Rome  :  the  people  were  seduced  by  this  flatter- 
ing appeal  to  their  natural  aversion  to  restraint;  and  the 
reformation  was  effected  in  the  manner  which  we  have 
endeavored  to  unfold.  Once  freed  from  the  authority  of 
Rome,  the  reformers  threw  themselves  and  their  partisans, 
for  protection,  into  the  arms  of  the  secular  princes  who 
had  espoused  their  cause  ;  and  these  gave  them  a  bear's 
embrace.  They  had  escaped  from  an  imaginary,  and  they 
now  fell  into  a  real  bondage.  They  had  gone  out  of  the 
dark  land  of  Egypt,  and  had  returned  from  the  captivity 
of  Babylon :  but  in  the  land  of  promise  into  which  they 
led  their  exulting  hosts  of  disenthralled  disciples,  they 
found  other  Pharaohs  and  other  Nabuchadonosors,  who 
lorded  it  over  them  with  a  rod  of  iron.  "  And  the  last 
state  of  these  men  was  made  worse  than  the  first."* 

Luther  soon  perceived,  that  the  only  means  of  stemming 
the  torrent  of  innovation,  which  he  had  let  loose  on  the 
world,  was  to  give  unlimited  power  to  princes  in  spiritual 
matters.  Melancthon  earnestly  labored  to  retain  the  order 
of  bishop  ;  but  his  unrelenting  master  could  not  brook  this 
odious  remnant  of  the  papacy.  The  result  was,  as  Me- 
lancthon had  foreseen,  that  for  them  he  substituted  other 
bishops  armed  with  the  power  of  the  sword.  These  were 
not  so  scrupulous  as  had  been  their  Catholic  predecessors 
in  the  episcopal  office.  After  having  seized  and  embezzled 
the  property  of  the  church,  they  reigned  supreme  in  church 
and  state.  They  interfered  in  the  minutest  aifairs  of  church 
government.  It  was  by  the  importunities  of  the  pious  and 
scrupulous  liandgrave  of  Hesse,  that  Luther  was  induced, 
against  his  inclination,  to  suppress  the  elevation  of  the 
Host  in  the  mass.t  Thus,  as  M.  Audin  well  remarks, 
"  the  reformation  which  was  ushered  into  Germany  by  its 

*  St.  Mattli.  xii,  45.  \  Jak.  Marx,  sup.  cit.  p.  177, 


2r0  d'aubigneVs  history  reviewes. 

apostles  as  a  means  of  forcing  the  people  from  the  sacer- 
dotal yoke,  created  a  Pagan  monstrositj — hierophant  and 
magistrate — who  with  one  arm  regulated  the  state,  and 
with  the  other,  the  church."* 

This  usurpation  of  Protestant  princes  was  legalized, 
and  became  a  settled  matter  of  state  policy,  at  the  con- 
gress of  Westphalia  in  1648.  This  congress  recognized 
in  the  Protestant  princes  of  Germany  the  jus  riformandi^ 
or  the  right  to  reform  the  churches  existing  within  their 
dominions,  according  to  their  own  judgment  and  good 
pleasure.!  Thus,  after  a  protracted  struggle  of  more  than 
a  hundred  years,  during  which  oceans  of  blood  had  been 
poured  out  in  the  sacred  name  of  liberty.  Protestantism 
sunk  exhausted — a  degraded  slave — in  the  murderous  em- 
brace of  earthly  princes !  It  was  bound  hand  and  foot, 
and  could  not  move,  but  by  the  permission  of  its  remorsie- 
less  master! 

The  reformers  were  themselves  the  sole  cause  of  this 
unhappy  result.  They  had  Battered  princes,  and  had 
courted  the  union,  to  which  may  be  fairly  traced  the  ser- 
vile degradation  of  the  sects  they  founded.  They  had 
invoked  the  power  of  the  sword,  not  only  against  Catholic?, 
but  also  against  their  brother  religionists,  who  dared  op- 
pose their  schemes  of  refoimation.  They  had  proclaimed, 
that  the  right  of  suppressing  heresy  "belonged  only  to 
princes,  who  alone  could  mow  down  the  cockle  with  the 
sword. "J  At  the  general  assembly  of  the  Protestant 
party  at  Hamburg  in  1536,  the  deputies  of  Lunenburg 
had  said  :  "  the  magistrate  has  the  power  of  life  and  death 
over  the  heretics. "§ 

Luther  himself,  in  his  defence  of  the  enactments  of  this 
assembly,  addressed  to  the  Landgrave  of  Hesse, ||  had  laid 
down  this  principle:  "If  then  there  takes  place  between 

*  P.  34T.  t  Jak.  Marx— Ibid. 

X  Ott.  ad  annum,  1536.     Gaatius,  sup.  cit.  p.  365.     Audin,  p.  463. 

§  Ott.  Ibid.  p.  m.  tl  Keferrsd  to  above,  p.  25S. 


INFLrPNCE  OF  THE  REFORM  OX  RELIGIOUS  LI  BERT  V.   371 

Catholics  and  sectaries,  one  of  those  discussions  in  which 
each  combatant  advances  with  a  text,  it  is  the  dutj  of  the 
nmagistrate  to  take  cognizance  of  the  dispute,  and  to  im- 
pose silence  on  those  M'hose  doctrine  does  not  accord  with 
the  holy  books."  Could  he  blame  princes  for  using  the 
power  which  he  himself  vested  in  them  ? 

The  history  of  the  union  of  church  and  state  in  Saxonj, 
will  throw  some  light  on  its  subsequent  establishment  in 
other  Protestant  countries.  It  was  to  meet  the  wishes 
and  to  carry  out  the  suggestions  of  Luther,  that  John, 
elector  of  Saxony — naturally  a  weak  and  effeminate  prince 
— first  interfered  in  the  affairs  of  the  church.  After  he 
had  entered,  however,  on  his  new  spiritual  functions,  his 
ardent  zeal  carried  him  farther  than  the  monk  had  barsained 
for.  *'  He  determined  to  free  himself  from  the  domination 
of  the  clergy  (Protestant) ;  and  for  that  purpose  found  that 
the  most  efficacious  means  was  to  apply  at  once  the  reform- 
ing theories  of  Luther  to  the  organization  of  parishes.  A 
commission  of  ecclesiastics  and  laymen  was  accordingly 
named  by  the  elector,  who  were  charged  to  visit  and  ad- 
minister the  ditVerent  districts.  It  was  a  real  revolution. 
The  church  lost  even  its  name  :  it  was  turned  into  a  Pa^an 
temple."* 

Let  us  also  see  what  is  the  opinion  of  Mr.  Hallam  on  the 
influence  of  the  reformation  on  religious  liberty.  He  surely 
is  not  prejudiced  against  the  reformers,  as  we  have  had 
occasion  to  see  ;  and  his  opinion  must  therefore  be  of  great 
weight  in  the  matter.  We  have  already  given  some  ex- 
tracts from  his  latest  work,  bearing  at  least  indirectly  on 
the  present  subject.     We  add  the  following  passages. 

"  It  is  often  said  that  the  essential  principle  of  Protest- 
antism, and  that  for  which  the  struggle  was  made,  was 
something  different  from  all  we  have  mentioned;  a  per- 
petual freedom  from  all  authority  in  religious  belief,  or 
what  goes  by  the  name  of  the  right  of  private  judgment. 

*  Aadiii,  p.  353. 


272  p'aubigne's  history  reviewf.d. 

But,  to  look  more  nearly  at  what  occurred,  this  perma- 
nent independence  was  not  much  asserted,  and  still  less 
acted  upon.  The  reformation  was  a  change  of  masters;  a 
voluntary  one  no  doubt,  in  those  who  had  any  choice ;  and, 
in  this  sense,  an  exercise,  for  the  time,  of  iheir  personal 
judgment.  But  no  one  having  gone  over  to  the  confession 
of  Augsburg  or  that  of  Zurich,  was  deemed  at  liberty  to 
modify  these  creeds  at  his  pleasure.  He  might  of  course 
become  an  Anabaptist  or  an  Arian  ;  but  he  was  not  the 
less  a  heretic  in  doing  so  than  if  he  had  continued  in  the 
church  of  Rome.  By  what  light  a  Protestant  was  to  steer, 
might  he  a  problem,  luhich  at  that  time,  as  eve?-  since,  it  would 
perplex  a  theologian  to  decide  :  but  in  practice,  the  law  of 
the  land  which  established  one  exclusive  mode  of  faith, 
was  the  only  safe,  as,  in  ordinary  circumstances,  it  was, 
upon  the  whole,  the  most  eligible  guide."* 

In  another  place,  speaking  of  the  causes  wliich  brought 
about  the  decline  of  Protestantism  and  the  reaction  of  Ca- 
tholicity, he  says:  "we  ought  to  reckon  also  among  the 
principal  causes  of  this  change,  those  perpetual  disputes, 
those  irreconcilable  animosities,  that  bigotry,  above  all, 
and  persecuting  spirit,  which  were  exhibited  in  the  Lu- 
theran and  Calvinistic  churches.  Each  began  with  a  com- 
mon principle — the  necessity  of  an  orthodox  faith.  But 
this  orthodoxy  evidently  meant  nothing  more  than  their 
own  belief  as  opposed  to  that  of  their  adversaries  ;  a  belief 
acknowledged  to  be  fallible,  yet  maintained  as  certain; 
rejecting  authority  in  one  breath,  and  appealing  to  it  in  the 
next,  and  claiming  to  rest  on  sure  proofs  of  reason  and 
Scripture,  which  their  opponents  were  ready  with  just 
as  much  confidence,  to  invalidate. "t 

In  conclusion,  we  may  observe,  that  in  regard  to  tolera- 
tion, the  Catholic  countries  of  Europe  at  the  present  time 
compare  advantageously  with  those  which  have  been  eu" 
lightened  by  the  reformation  for  the  last  three  hundred 

?  («  History  of  Literature,"  &c.  vol,  1,  p.  200.  f  Ibid,  i,  278. 


INFLUENCE  OF  THE  REFORM  ON  RELIGIOUS  LIBERTY.      273 

years.  There  is  not  one  Catholic  government  of  Europe 
which  now  persecutes  for  conscience'  sake:  and  on  the 
other  hand,  there  is  scarcely  one  Protestant  government, 
which  does  not  persecute,  in  one  form  or  other,  even  at 
this  day!  We  have  already  seen  what  is  the  present 
policy  of  the  latter,  in  regard  to  toleration.  Our  asser- 
tion in^  regard  to  the  former,  can  be  easily  substan- 
tiated. 

Belgium  is  Catholic,  and  Belgium  has  a  Protestant 
king,  allows  equal  political  rights  to  Protestants  with 
Catholics,  and  is  at  the  same  time,  perhaps,  the  freest 
monarchy  in  Europe.  The  inquisition  has  been  long 
since  abolished  in  Spain  and  Portugal,  and  these  no 
longer  persecute  dissenters.  France  is  Catholic,  and 
France  not  only  does  not  persecute,  but  she  protects 
the  Protestant  religion,  and  pays  its  ministers,  even 
more  than  she  allows  to  the  Catholic  clergy — which  is 
but  equitable,  as  those  have  their  wives  and  families  to 
support!  The  present  leading  minister  of  state  in  France 
is  a  Calvinist,  M.  Guizot! 

Bavaria  is  Catholic;  and  Bavaria  allows  equal  civil 
rights  to  Protestants  as  to  Catholics.  Hungary  is  Catho- 
lic ;  and  Hungary  does  the  same.  Austria  is  Catholic; 
and  Austria  adopts  the  same  equitable  policy.  Bohemia 
is  Catholic  ;  and  Bohemia  imitates  the  example  of  the 
other  Catholic  states.  Italy  is  Catholic;  and  Protestants 
have  places  of  worship  and  public  cemeteries  at  the  very 
gates  of  the  eternal  city  itself!  So  far  is  this  tolera- 
tion carried,  that  but  a  few  years  since,  a  parson  of 
the  church  of  England,  delivered  a  course  of  lectures 
against  popery  at  Rome  itself;  and  Dr.  Wiseman  an- 
swered them. 

Poland — poor  bleeding  and  crushed  Poland,  i^?a5  Catho- 
lic to  its  very  heart's  core ;  and  Poland  was  never  sullied 
with  perj^ecution  !  Ireland  was  ever  Catholic;  and  Ireland 
never  persecuted,  though  she  had  it  in  her  power  to  do  so 
at  three  different  times  '    Finally,  it  v/as  the  Catholic  lord 


274  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

Baltimore,  and  the  Catholic  colonists  of  Marjland,  who 
in  1648  first  proclaimed  on  these  shores  the  great  princi- 
ple of  universal  toleration,  while  the  Puritans  were  perse- 
cuting in  New  England,  and  the  Episcopalians  in  Vir- 
ginia!* 

*  See  Bancroft's  History  of  the  United  States,  vol.  1,  Maryland. 
About  the  same  time,  or  perhaps  a  few  years  previous,  Roger  Williams, 
driven  into  the  wilderness  by  the  Puritans  of  Massachusetts,  established 
the  colony  of  Rhode  Island,  the  charter  of  which  granted  free  toleration, 
from  which,  however,  the  Catholics  were  in  all  probability  excluded  ? 


CHAPTER     XII 


INFLUENCE    OF    THE    REFORMATION    ON    CIVIL    LIBERTY. 

"The  most  striking  effect  of  the  first  preaching  of  the  reformation  was  that  it 
appealed  to  the  ignorant;  and  though  political  liberty*  *  cannot  be  reckoned  the 
aim  of  those  who  introduced  it,  yet  there  predominated  tliat  revolutionary  spirit 
which  loves  to  witness  destruction  for  its  own  sake,  and  that  intoxicated  self- 
confidence  which  renders  folly  mischievous." — Hallam.* 

Puifing — Theory  of  government — Political  liberty — Four  things  guar- 
antied— Pursuit  of  happiness — The  popes  and  liberty — Rights  of 
property — Use  made  of  confiscated  church  property — The  Attila  of 
the  reformation — Par  nobile  fratrum — Spoliation  of  Catholics — Con- 
tempt of  testamentary  dispositions — The^ws  manuale  abolished — And 
restored — Disregard  of  life — And  crushing  of  popular  liberty — The 
war  of  the  peasants — Two  charges  made  good — Grievances  of  the 
peasants — Drowned  in  blood — Luther's  agency — Halting  between 
two  extremes — Result — Absolute  despotism — Swiss  cantons — M. 
D'Aubigne  puzzled — Liberty,  a  mountain  nymph — The  old  mother 
of  republics — Security  to  character — Recapitulation. 

The  friends  of  the  reformation  have  been  in  the  habit 
of  boasting,  that  to  it  we  are  indebted  for  all  the  free  insti- 
tutions we  now  enjo}^  Before  it,  there  was  nothing  in  the 
world  but  slavery  on  the  one  hand,  and  reckless  despotism 
on  the  other :  after  it,  came  liberty  and  free  governments. 
In  school-boj  orations  and  Fourth-of-Julj  speeches;  in 
sermons  from  the  pulpit  and  in  effusions  from  the  press; 
this  assertion  has  been  reiterated  over  and  again  with  so 
much  confidence,  that  many  persons  of  sincerity  and  in- 
tellia:ence  have  viev/ed  it  as  founded  in  fact.  To  such  we 
would  beg  leave  to  present  the  following  brief  summary  of 
facts  bearing  on  the  subject.  Let  them  read  both  sides; 
and  then  will  they  be  able  to  form  an  enlightened  judgment. 

*  "  History  of  Literature,"  vol.  i,  p.  192. 


275  D*AUBIGNF/S    HISTORY   REVIEWED. 

M.  D'Aubigne  asserts  roundly :  **  the  reformation  saved 
religion,  and  with  it  society."*  We  liave  already  seen 
what  it  did  for  religion  :  we  will  now  examine  what  it  did 
for  society.  Did  it  really  save  society  ;  or  was  society 
saved  in  spite  of  it?  To  narrow  down  the  ground  of  the 
inquiry;  did  it  really  contribute  by  its  influence  to  check 
political  despotism,  and  to  protect  the  rights  of  the  peo- 
ple ?  Or,  in  other  words,  did  it  develop  the  democratic 
principle,  and  originate  free  institutions  ?  Were  we  to  de- 
cide according  to  the  measure  of  its  boasting,  it  certainly 
did  this  and  much  more.  It  had  liberty  forever  on  its 
lips  :  it  loudly  proclaimed  that  one  great  object  of  its  mis- 
sion was  to  free  mankind  from  a  degrading  servitude,  both 
religious  and  political.  But  was  its  practice  in  accordance 
with  its  loudly  boasting  theory  ?  We  shall  see. 

Political  liberty  guarantees  security  to  life,  to  property, 
to  character,  and  to  the  pursuit  of  happiness:  and  it  docs 
this  with  the  least  possible  restraint  on  personal  freedom. 
The  greater  the  security  to  those  objects,  and  the  less  the 
restraint  on  individual  liberty,  the  more  free  and  perfect 
is  the  system  of  government.  A  well  regulated  democ- 
i-acy — where  the  people  can  bear  it — best  corresponds  with 
this  theory,  and  is  therefore,  with  the  condition  just  named, 
the  best  of  all  possible  forms  of  government.  And  the 
nearer  others  approximate  to  this  standard,  the  more  do 
they  verge  to  perfection.  Such  are  the  principles  of  our 
political  creed  :  and  by  them  we  will  judge  of  the  influence 
of  the  reformation  on  free  government.  Did  this  religious 
revolution  provide  greater  security  to  life,  property,  honor 
and  the  pursuit  of  happiness,  with  less  restraint  to  indivi- 
dual liberty  than  had  previously  existed  ?  If  it  did,  then 
was  its  influence  favorable  to  liberty;  if  not,  then,  how- 
ever its  advocates  may  boast,  its  influence  w^as  decidedly 
hostile  to  true  democracy.  We  will  abide  this  test, 
which,  we  are  sure,  our  adversaries  will  not  be  disposed 
to  reject. 

*  Vol.  i,  p.  6T. 


INFLUENCE  OF  THE  REFORM  ON  CIVIL  LIBERTY.  ^^77 

1.  We  will  begin  vvilli  tlie  object  of  government  last 
named — security  to  men  in  tlie  ])uisuit  of  happint'ss.  No 
government  is  free,  which  does  not  guaranty  tliis.  The 
liighest,  the  most  noble,  and  the  only  sure  way  of  pursuing 
happiness,  is  by  the  path  of  religion.  Witliout  this,  there 
is,  and  can  be,  no  real  or  permanent  happiness,  either  in 
this  world,  or  in  the  next.  This,  we  think,  will  be  admit- 
ted by  all  who  are  imbued  with  the  principles  of  Christi- 
anity. Now,  there  is  manifestly  no  freedom  in  this  ex- 
alted pursuit,  without  the  guarantee  of  religious  liberty. 
Hence,  a  system — which  sapped  the  very  foundations  of 
religious  liberty,  could  not  guaranty  one  of  the  greatest 
objects  of  all  free  governments — security  in  the  pursuit  of 
happiness.  We  have  already  proved,  that  the  reformation 
did  not  secure  religious  freedom  :  and  therefore,  the  infer- 
ence is  irresistible,  that  it  did  not  tend  to  promote  free 
government. 

We  will  pursue  this  line  of  argument  a  little  farther. 
The  reformation  cast  off  the  religious  yoke  of  the  Pontiffs 
and  of  the  Catholic  church  ;  and  wore,  instead  thereof, 
rivetted  on  its  neck,  that  of  the  princes  who  espoused  its 
cause.  Was  the  exchange  favorable  to  liberty  }  Did  the 
union  of  church  and  state  which  necessarily  ensued,  se- 
cure to  Protestants  in  Germany  a  greater  amount  of  free- 
dom than  they  had  heretofore  enjoyed  ?  The  pope  was 
far  off,  and  he  generally  interposed  his  authority  only  in 
spiritual  matters,  or  in  great  emergencies  of  the  state  :  the 
princes,  who  succeeded  to  his  authority,  were  present,  and 
interfered  in  every  thing,  both  in  church  and  state — they 
were  in  fact  supreme  in  both.  When  they  chose  to  play 
the  tyrant,  who  was  to  oppose  their  will  .^ 

The  reformed  party  were  powerless  :  they  had  given  up 
themselves,  bound  hand  and  foot,  into  the  power  of  their 
princes.  The  voice  of  the  Roman  pontiffs,  which  had  ere- 
while  thundered  from  the  Vatican,  and  stricken  terror  into 
the  heart  of  tyranny,  was  now  also  powerless  :  the  reformers 
themselves  had  drowned  that  voice  in  the  maddening  cla- 
24 


276  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

raor  of  their  opposition.  What  resource  had  they  left  to 
meet  and  repel  tyranny?  They  had  themselves,  of  their 
own  accord,  rendered  powerless  the  only  arm  which  could 
protect  them,  or  redress  their  grievances. 

The  time  has  gone  by,  for  men  of  sense  and  intelligence 
to  clamor  against  the  tyranny  of  the  Roman  pontiffs.  Pro- 
testants themselves  are  beginning  to  view  these  much 
abused  men  in  a  more  favorable  light  than  they  did  here- 
tofore. They  no  longer  paint  them  as  the  unmitigated 
tyrants  who  lorded  it  over  the  world  for  their  own  selfish 
purposes  and  unhallowed  ambition  ;  but  as  the  saviours  of 
Europe,  and  the  protectors  of  its  political  rights  trodden 
in  the  dust  by  tyrants.  Such  Protestant  writers  as  Gui- 
zot,  Voigt,  Hurter,  Ranke,  Newman,  Pusey  and  Bancroft, 
have  done  justice  to  the  popes :  at  least  they  have  meted 
out  to  them  a  portion  of  justice. 

The  last  named,  says,  speaking  of  Pope  Alexand  r  Ilf, 
who  lived  A.  D.  1167:  "  True  to  the  spirit  of  his  office, 
which  during  the  supremacy  of  brute  force  in  the  middle 
age,  made  of  the  chief  minister  of  religion  the  tribune  of 
the  people  and  the  guardian  of  the  oppressed,  had  written, 
*  that  nature  having  made  no  slaves,  all  men  have  an  equal 
right  to  liberty.'  "*  We  might  quote  many  similar  ac- 
knowledgments made  by  Protestant  writers  :  but  the  fact 
we  have  asserted  will  scarcely  be  questioned,  and  we  refer 
to  the  works  of  the  writers  mentioned  above — passim. 

Nothing  is,  in  fact,  more  certain  than  that  the  popes  of 
the  middle  ages  labored  assiduously  to  maintain  the  righta 
of  the  people  against  the  tyranny  of  their  princes.  When- 
ever they  struck  a  blow,  it  was  generally  aimed  at  tyranny, 
and  calculated  to  raise  up  the  lower  orders  in  the  scale  of 
society.  The  oppressed  of  every  natiim  found  a  willing 
and  a  powerful  advocate  in  Rome.  When  the  Roman 
pontiffs  threw  around  the  people  the  broad  shield  of  their 
protection,  it  was   more  effectual  towards  their  defence 

*  Historv  of  he  United  States,  vol.  1,  p.  163. 


INFLUEiVCa  OF  THE  REFORM  ON  CIVIL  LIBERTY.  279 

against  the  tyranny  which  had  ground  them  in  the  dust, 
than  had  been  the  eagles  which  had  perched  on  the  Roman 
standard  of  old.  For  Germany  particularly,  the  deposing 
power,  claimed  by  the  popes  of  the  middle  ages,  was  a 
broad  aegis  thrown  around  the  liberties  of  its  people. 
When  was  that  power  ever  exercised,  but  in  behalf  of  the 
poor,  the  crushed,  and  the  bleeding? 

What  would  have  become  of  the  liberties  of  Europe  in 
that  period  of  anarchy  and  tyranny,  but  for  its  exercise  ? 
No  other  authority  was  available  :  because  no  other  voice 
would  have  been  heard  or  respected,  amidst  the  general 
din  of  war  and  the  confusion  of  the  times.  And  by  de- 
stroying that  authority,  the  reformers  broke  down  the  most 
effectual  barrier  against  tyranny,  and  destroyed  the  great- 
est security  to  popular  rights. 

2.  But  perhaps  the  reformation  provided  greater  secu- 
rity for  the  rights  of  property,  than  had  been  made  in  the 
good  old  Catholic  times  ? — We  have  seen  how  the  Protest- 
ant princes  seized  upon  and  alienated  the  vast  property 
of  the  Catholic  church.  They  diverted  it  from  its  legiti- 
mate channels,  and  generally  embezzled  it  for  their  ovvn 
private  uses.  Neither  the  public  treasury  nor  the  people 
profited  much  by  this  sacrilegious  invasion  of  church 
property. 

True,  the  Protestant  princes,  who  became  the  heads  of 
the  reformed  churches,  promised,  in  some  places,  to  em- 
ploy at  least  a  portion  of  this  immense  property  thus  seized 
on  by  violence,  for  the  establishment  of  public  schools  and 
hospitals.  But  this  promise  was  never  carried  into  effect, 
at  least  to  any  great  extent.  Thus,  in  Sweden,  a  great 
portion  of  the  church  property  was  given  to  the  nobles, 
as  a  reward  for  their  co-operation  with  the  monarch,  Gus- 
tavus  Yasa,  in  carrying  out  his  favorite  project  of  reform  : 
another  large  portion  was  annexed  to  the  crown  ;  and  the 
miserable  remnant  was  doled  out  with  a  niggardly  hand 
for  the  support  of  the  Episcopal  body — which  was  there 
retained — of  the  inferior  clergy,  and  of  the  charitable  and 


280  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

literary  institutions.*  In  Denmark,  the  monarch  and  the 
nobility  shared  the  spoils.! 

In  Germany,  the  avarice  of  the  nobility  swallowed  up 
almost  every  thing,  which  had  escaped  the  grasp  of  the 
perjured  monks,  or  the  pillage  of  the  infuriated  mobs.  We 
have  already  seen,  how  Luther  himself  lashed  them  with 
his  withering  eloquence  for  their  avarice,  which  had  left 
almost  nothing  of  the  ample  patrimony  of  the  church,  for 
the  support  of  the  reformed  preachers  and  their  wives. 
We  shall  see  in  the  sequel,  how  he  rebnked  their  parsi- 
mony, in  not  erecting  and  supporting  public  schools. 

The  ejected  Catholic  monks  and  clergy  were  reduced 
to  beggary,  and  had  no  alternative  left,  but  to  starve,  or 
to  obtain  a  livelihood  at  the  price  of  apostacy.  Alas  !  too 
many  of  them  adopted  the  latter  course !  John  Hurd,  a 
counsellor  of  the  Elector  of  Saxony,  whose  authority  is 
cited  by  Luther  in  his  appeal  against  the  avarice  of  the 
princes,  asserts  that  the  Protestant  r.obility  had  squan- 
dered in  licentiousness,  not  only  the  goods  of  the  monas- 
teries on  which  they  had  seized,  but  also  their  own  patri- 
mony4 

Many  of  these  marauding  princes  were  not  content  with 
the  pillage  of  the  church  property  within  their  own  terri- 
tory, but  sallied  forth  with  an  armed  band  to  devastate 
that  of  their  neighbors.  We  have  already  adverted  to  the 
memorable  exploits  of  many  German  princes  in  this  way, 
and  have  seen  how  g;allantly  their  armed  bands  put  to 
flight  whole  troops  of  cowled  monks  and  helpless  women, 
in  order  to  seize  on  their  property !  We  have  seen  the 
excursion  of  the  apostate  Albert  of  Brandenburg,  at  the 
head  often  thousand  armed  men,  into  the  territory'  of  the 
prince  Bishop  of  Treves. 

This  man,  viewed  by  M.  D'Aubigne  as  a  saint,  but  more 
properly  called  **  the  Attila  of  the  reformation, "§  estab- 

*  See  Robelot,  sup.  cit.  p.  177.  f  Ibid. 

X  Ibi.l.  p.  17«.  §  Ibid,  p  20G. 


INFLUENCE   OF  THE   REFORM  ON  CIVIL  LIBERTY.  281 

lished  a  temporal  principality,  and  laid  the  foundation  of 
the  present  kingdom  of  Prussia,  by  his  successful  invasion 
of  the  property  of  others.  He  not  only  appropriated  to 
his  own  private  use  the  vast  property  belonging  to  the 
Teutonic  Order,  of  which  he  was  the  general  ;  but  he  also, 
by  the  same  lawless  means,  annexed  to  his  territory  all 
eastern  Prussia.  He  was  as  treacherous  and  unprincipled, 
as  he  was  avaricious  and  lawless.  To  promote  the  pur- 
poses of  his  ambition,  he  passed  from  the  camp  of  Henry 
II,  to  that  of  the  Catholic  Charles  V;  and  though  the 
treaty  of  Passan  had  guaranteed  to  the  Lutherans  of  the 
Confession  of  Augsburg  the  free  exercise  of  their  religion, 
he,  at  the  head  of  his  troops,  ravaged  the  territories  of  the 
Protestant  princes — thus  recklessly  sacrificing  friends 
and  enemies  !  The  reformation  is  welcome  to  all  the  cre- 
dit its  cause  may  derive  from  such  saints  as  he  and  the 
Landgrave  of  Hesse — par  nobile  fratrum  ! 

Bayle  says  to  the  reformed  party,  with  caustic  truth: 
*'  You  forget  every  thing,  when  it  is  question  of  your  in- 
teiests."*  The  League  of  Smalkald,  noticed  above,  had 
for  one  of  its  principal  objects  to  protest  against  the  deci- 
sions of  the  imperial  courts,  which  had  not  granted  entire 
liberty  to  the  Protestant  princes  to  pillage  at  will  the  pro- 
perty of  the  Catholics.  It  is  a  remarkable  fact,  that  most 
of  the  criminal  prosecutions  commenced  in  this  court  were 
directed  against  the  lawless  violence  of  the  Protestant  no- 
bility, and  especially  of  the  noted  Landgrave  of  Hessef. 
Catholics  could  not  be  secure  in  their  property,  and  even 
the  protection  of  the  emperor  was  unavailing  for  this  pur- 
pose, in  those  times  of  lawless  depredation. 

And  be  it  remembered,  that  Catholics  still  formed  the 
great  body  of  the  Germanic  empire.  Thus  the  reforma- 
tion succeeded  in  depriving  to  a  great  extent  of  their  most 
sacred  rights,  the  majority  of  the  people.  Was  this  course 
favorably  to  liberty,  which  is  a  mere  name,  without  secu- 

*  (Euvres,  torn,  ii,  p.  621.     La  Haye,  1727. 
t  See  Robelot,  ut  supra,  p.  205,  note. 
24* 


282  D  aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

ritj  to  property  ?  The  truth  seems  to  be,  that  the  reformed 
party  were  so  much  attached  to  libert}^,  that  they  wished 
to  monopolize  it,  and  have  it  all  for  themselves  ! 

But  perhaps  the  most  mischievous  influence  of  the  re- 
formation on  the  rights  of  property,  was  its  reckless  disre- 
gard of  testamentary  dispositions.  The  property  which 
the  Protestant  princes  seized  on  and  alienated,  had  been, 
most  of  it,  accumulated  by  charitable  bequests,  made  for 
special  church  and  charitable  purposes,  by  men  on  their 
death-beds.  What  right  had  the  reformed  party  to  inter- 
fere with  these  testamentary  dispositions  }  What  right  had 
they  to  divert  the  property  thus  created,  from  the  channels 
in  which  the  abiding  Catholic  feeling  of  respect  for  the 
dead  had  caused  it  to  flow  fur  centuries  ?  What  right  had 
they  above  all  to  squander,  and  to  appropriate  to  their  own 
unhallowed  purposes,  wealth  that  had  been  hitherto  ap- 
plied, by  the  express  will  of  those  who  had  bequeathed  it, 
to  religious  and  charitable  objects  ? 

And  what  security  was  there  any  longer  left  for  the 
rights  of  propertjs  when  even  the  sanctity  of  last  wills 
and  testaments  was  thus  recklessl}'-  disregarded  ?  Had 
those  charitable  men  of  the  good  old  Catholic  times  arisen 
from  their  tombs,  how  they  would  have  rebuked  this  sac- 
rilegious alienation  of  the  property  they  had  left !  True, 
some  stop  was  put  to  this  unhallowed  sequestration  of 
church  property  by  the  treaty  of  1555,  in  which  such 
property  was  declared  sacred,  and  last  wills  inviolable;* 
and  Robertson,  the  historian  of  Charles  V,  tells  us,  that 
the  Protestant  princes  themselves  at  this  treaty,  after 
having  at  first  opposed  the  article  which  checked  their 
lawless  violence,  withdrew  at  length  their  objections,  and 
acquiesced  in  its  equity;*  but  the  mischief  had  already 
been  done,  and  they  had  already  fattened  on  the  spoils  of 
the  church. 

But  for  the  tumults  caused  by  the  reformation,  the  rights 

*  History  of  Cliarles  V,  1.  xi       Cited  by  Robelot,  p.  181. 


INFLUENCE  OF  THE  REFORM  ON  CIVIL  LIBERTY.  283 

of  property  would,  in  all  probability,  have  been  perma- 
nently settled  throughout  Germany,  at  the  close  of  the 
fifteenth  century.  The  frequent  depredations  committed 
by  the  feudal  chieftains  of  the  middle  ages  on  the  property 
of  each  other  and  of  their  vassals,  were  effectually  checked 
by  the  emperor  Maximilian  in  an  imperial  law  passed  in 
1495.  This  law  of  the  empire  abolished  altogether  what 
was  called  the  jus  mamiale — or  the  right  claimed  by  many 
lawless  feudal  sovereigns  to  take  by  force  whatever  they 
could  lay  their  hands  on;  and  it  established  an  imperial 
court  of  adjudication,  in  which  all  points  of  contested  ju- 
risdiction were  to  be  definitively  settled,  and  all  grievances 
from  violations  of  the  law  to  be  redressed.  Germany  en- 
joyed a  profound  peace  for  many  years  after  the  enactment 
of  this  wise  law:  men  breathed  more  freely;  might  and 
right  were  no  loger  synonymous  terms;  the  rights  of  pro- 
perty were  re-established.* 

But  this  peace  was,  alas  !  of  but  short  duration.  It  was 
a  calm  which  preceded  an  awful  storm.  The  violent 
preaching  of  Luther  against  emperors,  princes  and  bishops, 
aroused  again  into  full  activity  the  dormant  passions  of  the 
lower  orders.  Hence  the  dreadful  war  of  the  peasants, 
with  all  its  appalling  horrors,  its  effusion  of  blood,  and  the 
desolation  with  which  it  aflflicted  Germany.  Seven  years 
only  had  elapsed  since  the  commencement  of  the  reforma- 
tion ;  and  the  confusion  of  the  middle  ages  returned  :  the 
rights  of  property,  of  life,  and  of  liberty  were  again  ruth- 
lessly trampled  under  foot  with  impunity.  The  years 
1 524  and  1 525  were  awful  years  for  Germany.  The  princes 
of  the  empire  availed  themselves  of  the  general  disorder, 
to  commit  all  manner  of  excesses.  No  man's  property,  or 
liberty,  or  life  was  any  longer  safe.  The  tree  planted  by 
Luther  at  Wittemberg  was  bearing  its  bitter  first  fruits  ! 

3.  The  history  of  this  war  of  the  peasants  sheds  so  much 
additional  light  upon  the  influence  of  the  reformation  on 

*  For  a  luminous  view  of  this,  see  Robelot,  u1  fivp.  p.  200,  201. 


284  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

the  rights  of  the  lower  orders  and  the  liberty  of  the  people, 
that  we  will  be  pardoned  for  dwelling  on  it  at  some  length. 
Our  limits  will  however  allow  o?ily  a  brief  summary  of  the 
more  prominent  facts,  and  a  rapid  sketch  of  the  leading 
features  of  that  eventful  struo-o-le  It  will  be  seen  that 
the  reformation  provided  no  security  either  for  personal 
liberty  or  for  life  itself. 

We  deliberately  charge  on  the  reformation  two  things: 
lit,  that  it  stimulated  the  peasants  to  revolt;  and  2dly, 
that  it  used  its  powerful  influence  to  crush  that  revolt  by 
force,  and  to  drown  the  voice  of  the  poor  peasants,  crying 
out  for  redress  of  grievances,  in  their  blood  !  The  result 
of  the  rebellion,  thus  stifled  in  blood,  was  a  weakening  of 
the  democratic  principle,  and  a  streno;theningof  the  arm  of 
power.  At  the  close  of  the  dreadful  struggle,  liberty  lay 
crushed  and  bleeding,  and  despotism,  armed  with  all  its 
iion  terrors,  was  triumphant.  We  hope  to  make  good 
these  assertions  byfmdeniable  facts  and  unexceptionable 
evidence. 

The  Protestant  historian  of  Germany,  Adolphus  Menzel, 
candidly  admits  that  Luther's  doctrines  were  calculated 
to  sow  the  seeds  of  sedition  among  the  lower  orders.*  The 
violent  appeal  he  had  made  against  the  emperor  and  the 
princes  of  the  empire,  at  the  close  of  the  Diet  of  Nurem- 
berg in  152i2 — two  years  before  t\^e  revolt  of  the  peasants 
— was  in  fact  nothing  ^else  but  an  open  call  to  rebellion.f 
His  words  fell  like  burning  coals  on  the  inflammatory  ma- 
terials which  then  abounded  in  Germany.  The  standard 
of  revolt  was  every  where  raised  :  and  on  it  was  inscribed 
the  talismanic  word,  liberty.  Far  from  wishing  to  extin- 
guish it,  Luther  fanned  the  flame  with  his  breath.  When 
the  insurrectionary  movements  were  reaching  his  own 
Saxony,  he  addressed  a  pamphlet  to  the  German  nobility, 
in  which  he  sided  with  the  peasants,  and  openly  charged 
the  princes  with  being  the  cause  of  the  revolt. 

*  "Neuere  Geschichte  der  Deutschen" — Tom.  1.  p.  169. 
t  See  extracts  from  tliis  writing  in  Audin,  p.  285,  seqq. 


INFLUENCE    OF  THE  REFORM  ON    CIVIL    LIBERTY.  285 

He  cried  out :  *'  On  you  rests  the  responsibility  of  these 
tumults  and  seditions;  on  you,  princes  and  lords,  on  you 
especially,  blind  bishops  and  senseless  priests  and  monks  ! 
You,  who  persist  in  making  yourselves  fools,  and  opposing 
the  Gospel,  although  you  know  that  it  will  triumph,  and 
that  you  shall  not  prevail.  How  do  you  govern  ?  You 
only  know  how  to  oppress,  to  destroy,  and  to  plunder,  for 
the  purpose  of  maintaining  your  pomp  and  pride.  The 
people  and  the  poor  have  got  enough  of  you.  The  sword 
is  raised  over  your  heads,  and  yet  you  believe  yourselves 
so  firmly  seated,  that  you  cannot  be  overthrown.***  My 
good  sirs,  it  is  not  merely  the  peasants  who  rise  up  against 
you  ;  it  is  God  himself  who  comes  to  chastise  your  ty- 
ranny. A  drunken  man  must  have  a  bed  of  straw;  a 
peasant  will  require  something  softer.  Go  not  to  war  with 
them ;  you  do  not  know  how  the  affair  will  terminate."* 

This  v/as  an  appeal  worthy  of  an  apostle  of  liberty — it 
was  seized  up  with  avidity  by  Mianzer  and  the  other  leaders 
of  the  revolt:  all  Germany  was  in  arms.  How  soon  did 
Luther  change  his  note,  and  preach  up  the  extermination 
of  these  same  peasants  by  fire  and  sword  !  Before  we  show 
this  however,  we  must  first  see  what  were  the  principal 
grievances  of  which  the  peasants  complained,  and  what 
were  their  demands. 

There  is  no  doubt,  that  there  was  much  fanaticism,  and 
much  extravagance  in  their  whole  insurrectionary  move- 
ment: but  there  is  as  little  doubt,  that  most  of  their 
claims  were  founded  in  strict  justice.  Chrystopher  Schapp- 
ler,  a  Swiss  priest,  drew  up  their  manifesto,  in  which  they 
demanded,  among  other  things  of  less  moment :  "  that  they 
should  pay  tithes  only  in  corn — that  they  should  no  longer 
be  treated  as  slaves,  since  the  blood  of  Jesus  had  redeemed 
them — that  they  should  be  allowed  to  fish  and  to  fowl, 
since  God  had  given  them,  in  the  person  of  Adam,  domin- 
ion over  the  fishes  of  the  sea  and  the  fowls  of  the  air — that 

*  See  Audin,  p.  309,  310. 


286 

they  might  cut  in  the  orest,  wood  for  fuel  and  for  build- 
ing— that  the  labor  should  be  diminished — that  they  should 
be  permitted  to  possess  landed  property — that  the  taxes 
should  not  exceed  the  value  of  the  property — that  the  tri- 
bute to  the  nobles,  after  the  death  of  a  father  of  a  family, 
might  be  abolished,  so  that  his  widow  and  orphans  might 
not  be  reduced  to  beggary — and  finally,  that  if  these  griev- 
ances were  not  well  founded,  they  might  be  disproved 
from  the  Word  of  God."* 

How  was  this  declaration  of  grievances  met  by  the  re- 
formed party  ?  If  they  were  really  the  friends  of  liberty, 
they  would  at  once  have  recognized  the  justice  of  most  of 
these  demands,  and  would  have  urged  the  princes  to  grant 
them.  At  least  consistency,  if  not  justice,  required  that 
Luther  should  have  adopted  this  course.  And  yet  he — 
the  same  Luther,  whom  we  have  just  heard  rebuking  the 
tyranny  of  the  princes,  and  justifying,  nay,  stimulating  the 
peasants  in  their  revolt — the  very  same  man  now  changed 
his  tactics,  and  loudly  clamored  for  the  blood  of  the  pea- 
sants !  He  met  their  challenge,  in  which  they  had  trium- 
phantly appealed  to  the  Scriptures  for  their  justification, 
and  wrote  a  labored  treatise  to  prove,  from  the  Word  of 
God,  that  they  were  in  the  wrong ! 

In  this  reply  to  their  statement  of  grievances,  he  said  : 
**  I  know  that  Satan,  under  pretext  of  the  Gospel,  conceals 
among  you  many  men  of  a  cruel  heart,  who  incessantly 
calumniate  me;  (was  this  the  reason  why  he  abandoned 
their  cause?).  But  I  despise  them  :  I  do  not  dread  their 
rage.  You  tell  me  that  you  will  triumph;  that  you  are 
invincible.  But  cannot  God,  who  destroyed  Sodom, 
overcome  you  ?  You  have  taken  up  the  sword ;  you  shall 
perish  by  the  sword.  In  res'sting  your  magistrates,  you 
resist  Jesus  Christ." 

He  then  goes  on  to  answer  from  the  Scriptures  their 

*  Catron — Histoire  du  Fanatistne,  torn.  1.  Menzel,  torn.  1,  apnd 
Audin,  p.  311,  312.  See  also  Robertson's  Charles  V,  in  one  vol.  8vo. 
American  edit.  p.  205,  206. 


INFLUENCE  OF  THE  REFORM  ON  CIVIL  LIBERTY.  1^7 

demands,  one  bj  one.  Bible  in  hand,  he  defends  tithes 
and  even  the  enslaving;  of  the  poor  peasants,  who  had  de- 
manded to  be  free !  "  Vou  wish  to  emancipate  yourselves 
from  slavery:  but  slavery  is  as  old  as  the  world.  Abra- 
ham had  slaves,  and  St.  Paul  establishes  rules  for  those 
whom  the  laws  of  nations  reduced  to  that  state."  As  if 
conscious  of  his  own  treachery  and  utter  inconsistency, 
he  winds  up  his  reply  with  these  words:  "on  reading  my 
letter,  you  will  shout  and  exclaim,  that  Luther  has  become 
the  courtier  of  princes  :  but  before  you  reject,  at  least  ex- 
amine my  advice.  Above  all,  listen  not  to  the  voice  of 
those  new  prophets  who  delude  you.     I  know  them."* 

What  a  change  !  As  Luther  had  anticipated,  the  pea- 
sants accused  him,  with  justice,  of  perficTy  to  them,  and  of 
mean  sycophancy  to  princes.  To  prove  tlie  former,  MiJn- 
zer  read  to  the  assembled  multitudes  an  extract  from 
Luther's  violent  appeal  against  "  the  ecclesiastical  order 
falsely  so  called,''!  in  which  he  had  said  :  "  Wait  my  lord 
bishops,  yea,  rather  imps  of  the  devil;  Doctor  Martin 
Luther,  will  read  for  you  a  bull,  which  will  make  your 
ears  tingle.  This  is  the  Lutheran  bull — whoever  will  aid 
with  his  arms,  his  fortune,  or  his  life,  to  devastate  the 
bishops  and  the  episcopal  hierarchy,  is  a  good  son  of  God, 
a  true  Christian,  and  observes  the  commandments  of  the 
Lord." 

In  his  answer  to  Prierias,  which  it  appears  Miinzer  had 
not  seen,  he  had  employed  this  terrible  language :  "  If  we 
hang  robbers  on  the  gallows,  decapitate  murderers,  and 
burn  heretics,  why  should  we  not  wash  our  hands  in  the 
blood  of  those  sons  of  perdition,  those  cardinals,  those 
popes,  those  serpents  of  Rome,  and  of  Sodom,  who  defile 
the  church  of  God  ?":|: 

Luther's  interposition  came  too  late:  and  it  lost  all  its 

*  A  pud  Audin,  p.  312,313. 

t  "Contra  falso  nominatum  ordinera  ecclesiasticura."  Luth.  0pp. 
ed.  Wittemb.  ii,  fol.  120,  seqq. 

X  Osiander  (a  Protestant)  Cent.  161,  Sec.  p.  109.     Audin,  p.  213. 


288 

force  by  its  manifest  treachery  and  inconsistency  with  his 
previous  declarations.  The  struggle  went  on  ;  the  hostile 
armies  met  on  the  memorable  field  of  Frankhausen :  the 
confederated  princes  were  triumphant,  and  the  peasants 
were  butchered  like  sheep.  Their  prophet  Miinzer  fell 
mortally  wounded  :  he  embraced  again  the  Catholic  faith, 
and  to  his  last  breath  accused  Luther  of  having  been  the 
cause  of  all  his  misfortunes!* 

**Such,"  says  M.  Audin,  "  was  the  end  of  the  war  of 
the  peasants.  In  the  short  time  in  which  they  were  per- 
mitted to  afflict  gociety,  it  is  estimated  that  more  than  a 
hundred  thousand  men  fell  on  the  field  of  battle,  seven 
cities  were  dismantled,  fifty  monasteries  razed  to  the 
ground,  and  three  churches  burned — not  to  mention  the 
immense  treasures  of  painting  and  sculpture,  of  stained 
glass  and  of  beautifully  written  manuscripts — which  were 
annihilated.  Had  they  triumphed,  Germany  would  have 
relapsed  into  barbarism  ;  literature,  arts,  poetry,  morality, 
faith,  and  authority,  would  have  been  buried  under  the 
same  ruin.  The  rebellion  which  Luther  had  caused,  was 
the  daughter  of  disobedience:  her  father,  however,  knew 
how  to  chastise  her.  If  there  was  innocent  blood  shed, 
let  it  be  on  his  head.  *  For,'  says  the  reformer  'it  is  I 
who  have  shed  it,  by  order  of  God;  and  whoever  has 
perished  in  this  combat,  has  lost  both  soul  and  body,  and 
is  eternally  damned.'  "t 

The  voice  of  history  proclaims,  that  Luther  was  the 
cause  of  the  insurrection  of  the  peasants,  and  of  their  sub- 
sequent slaughter.  Protestant  cotemporary  historians 
have  accused  him  of  all  this.  Osiander  says :  **  poor  pea- 
sants, whom  Luther  flattered  and  caressed,  while  they 
were  content  with  attacking  the  bishops  and  the  clergy ! 
But  when  the  revolt  assumed  another  aspect,  and  the  in- 

*   For  a  graphic  description  of  this  whole  struggle,  see  Audin, 
315,  seqq. 

t  Tisch  Reden,  edit.  Eisleb.  p.  276.  Lath.  0pp.  edit.  Jenae.  Tom. 
iii,  fol.  130.    Audin,  p.  318. 


INFLUENCE  OF  THE  REFORM  ON  CIVIL  LIBERTY.  289 

surgents  mocked  at  his  bull,  and  threatened  him  and  his 
princes — (hen  appeared  another  bull,  in  which  he  preached 
up  the  slaughter  of  tlie  peasants  as  if  thej  were  so  many 
sheep.  And  when  thej  were  killed,  how,  think  you,  did 
he  celebrate  their  funeral  ?  By  marrying  a  nun  !"  This 
reminils  us  of  Erasmus'  beautiful  remark  given  above,  that 
while  Luther  was  revelling  at  his  nuptials,  "  a  hundred 
thousand  peasants  were  descending  to  the  tomb!" 

Hospinian,  another  Protestant  writer,  says,  addressing 
Luther:  *'  It  is  you  who  excited  the  peasants  to  revolt."* 
Memno  Simon,  another  Protestant,  asserts  the  same  thing.t 
Cochlaeus,  a  Catholic  historian  of  the  time,  estimates  the 
number  of  the  slaughtered  peasants  at  150,000  ;  and  says  : 
**0n  the  day  of  judgment,  Mi^inzer  and  his  peasants  will 
cry  out  before  God  and  his  angels,  'vengeance  on  Lu- 
ther!'"J 

And  have  we  not  heard  Luther  himself  boldly  avowing 
his  agency  in  the  whole  transaction,  and  even  boasting  of 
it,  with  a  kind  of  fiendish  exultation  ?  Had  he  not  recom- 
mended the  princes  to  have  no  pity  on  the  peasants,  and 
threatened  them  v/ith  the  indignation  of  God,  if  they 
poured  oil  on  their  bleeding  wounds  .^§  Had  he  not  saiid  : 
*'  give  the  peasants  oats;  and  if  they  grow  strong-headed, 
give  them  the  stick  and  the  cannon  ball  ?"|| 

Such  then  were  the  tender  mercies  of  the  reformation ! 
Such  its  regard  for  the  lower  orders  !  Such  its  political 
code!  The  poor  peasants  first  stimulated  to  take  up  arms 
to  secure  their  freedom,  and  then  butchered  by  tens  of 
thousands  !  In  their  tomb  was  buried  whatever  of  liberty 
remained  in  Germany.  The  princes  became  omnipotent : 
the  revolt  once  crushed,  no  one  dared  any  longer  to  raise 
his  voice  in  defence  of  freedom  ! 

*  "  Historia  Sacramentar."  pars  2,  fol.  200. 
t  Lib.  de  cruce. 

X  Cochlaeus — Defensio    Ducis   Georgii,  p,  63,  edit.  Ingolstadt,  an. 
1545,  in  4to. 
§  Epist.  Nich.  Amsdorf,  30  Mali,  1525. 
II  Epist.  to  Ruhel,  edit-,  de  Wette.  torn,  ii,  p.  669. 
25 


290  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

The  reformation  had  halted  for  a  brief  space  between 
two  dreadful  extremes:  that  of  absolute  and  uncontrolled 
despotism  on  the  one  hand,  and  that  of  dreadful  anarchy 
on  the  other.  It  at  first  favored  the  latter,  but  soon  it 
threw  the  whole  weight  of  its  powerful  influence  into  the 
scales  of  the  former.  The  result  has  been,  what  might 
have  been  expected,  absolute  despotism  and  union  of 
church  and  state  in  every  country  of  Germany,  where  the 
reformation  obtained  a  footing  !  Had  the  reformers  been 
really  the  friends  of  humanity  and  of  liberty;  had  they 
urged  the  princes  to  redress  the  just  grievances  of  the 
peasants;  the  issue  of  that  struggle  would  have  been  very 
different.  The  lower  orders  would  have  been  raised  in 
the  scale  of  society,  and  free  institutions,  which  have  not 
blessed  Germany  since  the  reformation,  would  have  been 
raised  on  a  solid  and  permanent  basis. 

One  of  the  most  famous  Protestant  historians  of  the  day, 
M.  Guizot,  the  present  minister  of  France,  tells  us,  in  his 
"Lectures  on  Civilization  in  Modern  Europe;"  **that 
the  emancipation  of  the  human  mind,  [by  the  reformation!) 
and  absolute  monarchy  triumphed  simultaneously  through- 
out Europe."*  All  who  have  but  glanced  at  the  political 
history  of  Europe  in  the  sixteenth  century,  must  at  once 
see  the  truth  of  this  remark.  In  the  Protestant  kingdoms 
of  Europe,  the  rule  suffers  no  exception:  in  all  of  them, 
absolute  monarchy,  in  its  most  consolidated  and  despotic 
form,  dates  precisely  from  the  period  of  the  reformation. 

Witness  Prussia,  Denmark,  Sweden,  and,  we  may  add, 
England :  for  it  is  certain,  that  for  one  hundred  and  fifty 
years  following  the  reformation  in  England,  the  liberties 
of  the  people  were  crushed  ;  the  privileges  secured  by  the 
Catholic  magna  charta  were  wantonly  trampled  under 
foot;  and  royal  prerogative  swallowed  up  every  other  ele- 
ment of  government.  It  was  only  at  the  period  of  the  re- 
volution in  1688,  that  the  principles  oi  magna  cAartawere 

*  P.  300  of  Lectures,  Sic.  American  edit.  1  vol.  12mo. 


INFLUENCE  OF  THE  REFORM  ON  CIVIL  LIBERTY.         291 

again  feebly  asserted,  and  partially  restored  to  their  pro- 
per influence  in  the  government.* 

In  Catholic  countries,  the  necessity  of  strong  measures 
of  precaution  against  the  seditions  and  tumults  occasioned 
by  the  reformation  in  every  place  where  it  had  made  its 
appearance,  tended  powerfully  to  strengthen  the  arm  of 
the  executive :  and  in  the  general  ferment  of  the  times, 
the  people  willingly  resigned  most  of  the  civil  privileges 
they  had  enjoyed  during  the  middle  ages,  in  order,  by  in- 
creasing the  power  of  their  rulers,  the  more  effectually  to 
stem  the  torrent  of  innovation,  and  to  avert  the  threatened 
evils  of  anarchy.  Thus  the  political  tendency  of  the  re- 
formation, both  directly  and  indirectly,  favored  the  intro- 
duction of  absolute  systems  of  government  throughout 
Europe. 

And  thus  do  we  owe  to  that  "glorious  reformation,"  the 
despotic  governments,  the  vast  standing  armies,  and  we 
may  add,  the  immense  public  debts  and  the  burdensome 
taxation,  of  most  of  the  European  governments  !  M.  Gui- 
zot's  assertion  is  well  founded,  both  in  the  principles  of 
political  philosophy,  and  in  the  facts  of  history.  We  may 
however  remark,  that  it  was  a  strange  "emancipation  of 
the  human  mind"  truly,  which  thus  avowedly  led  to  the 
"  triumph  of  absolute  monarchy  throughout  Europe  !" 

It  would  seem  that  Switzerland  at  least  was  an  excep- 
tion to  M.  Guizot's  sweeping  assertion  ;  as  absolute  mon- 
archy never  was  established  in  its  cantons,  even  after  the 
reformation  !  But  the  reader  of  Swiss  history  will  not  fail 
to  observe  that  wherever  Protestantism  was  established  in 
that  country,  there  the  democratic  principle  was  weak- 
ened, the  legislative  councils  unduly  interfered  in  spiritual 
matters,  and  despotism  thus  often  triumphed  in  the  much 
abused  name  of  liberty.  Those  cantons  of  Switzerland 
are  the  freest  which  have  remained  faithful  to  the  Catho- 

*  See  an  able  essay  on  this  subject  in  Nos.  xv,  xviii,  xix,  of  the 
Dublin  Review,  "on  arbitrary  power,  Popery,  Protestantism;"  repub- 
lished in  a  neat  12mo.  volume  by  M.  Fithian,  Philadelphia,  1842,  p.  251. 


293  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

lie  religion.  In  them,  you  read  of  no  persecution  of  Pro- 
testants for  conscience' sake,  of  no  attempts  to  unite  church 
and  state,  and  of  little  departure  in  any  respect,  from  the 
original  Catholic  charter  of  Swiss  liberties. 

It  is  a  remarkable  fact,  that  the  three  cantons  which  first 
asserted  Swiss  liberty — those  of  Schweitz,  Uri  and  Unter- 
wald — have  all  continued  faithful  to  the  Catholic  church  ; 
as  well  as  to  the  good  old  principles  of  democracy  bequeathed 
to  them  by  the  Catholic  founders  of  their  republic,  Wil- 
liam Tell,  Furst  and  Melchtal.  It  was  under  these  re- 
nowned leaders,  that  the  troops  of  the  three  cantons  just 
named  fought,  1S09,  the  memorable  battle  of  Morgarten, 
which  drove  the  Austrians  from  Switzerland,  and  caused 
the  banner  of  Swiss  independence  to  float  triumphant  over 
a  people,  as  free  as  the  air  which  stirred  its  expansive  folds  ! 

M.  D'Aubigne  admits,  and  is  sadly  puzzled  to  account 
for,  this  stern  adherence  of  the  oldest  and  freest  Swiss 
cantons  to  the  Catholic  faith.  He  explains  it,  by  appeal- 
ing to  the  inscrutable  ways  of  the  providence  of  God! 
**But  if  the  Helvetic  towns,"  he  says  "open  and  accessi- 
ble to  ameliorations,  were  likely  to  be  drawn  early  within 
the  current  of  the  reformation,  the  case  was  very  different 
with  the  mountain  districts.  It  might  have  been  thought 
that  these  communities,  more  simple  and  energetic  than 
their  confederates  in  the  towns,  would  have  embraced 
with  ardor  a  doctrine,  of  which  the  characteristics  were 
simplicity  and  force ;  but  He  who  said — '  at  that  time  two 
men  shall  be  in  the  field,  the  one  shall  be  taken  and  the 
other  left' — saw  fit  to  leave  these  mountaineers,  while  he 
took  the  men  of  the  plain.  Perhaps  an  attentive  observer 
might  havfi  discerned  some  symptoms  of  the  difference, 
which  was  about  to  manifest  itself  between  the  people  of 
the  town  and  the  hills.  Ihielligence  had  not  penetrated 
to  those  heights.  Those  cantons  which  had  founded  Swiss 
liberty,  proud  of  the  part  they  had  played  in  the  grand 
struggle  for  independence,  were  not  disposed  to  be  tamely 
instructed  by  their  younger  brethren  of  the  plain.    Why, 


INFLUENCE  OF  THE  REFORM  ON  CIVIL  LIBERTY.  293 

they  might  ask,  should  they  change  the  faith  in  which  they 
had  expelled  the  Austrians,  and  which  had  consecrated 
by  altars  all  the  scenes  of  their  triumphs  ?  Their  priests 
were  the  only  enlightened  guides  to  whom  they  could  ap- 
ply ;  their  worship  and  their  festivals  were  occupation  and 
diversion  for  their  tranquil  lives,  and  enlivened  the  silence 
of  their  peaceful  retreats.  They  continued  closed  against 
religious  innovations."* 

Sure  enough  :  why  should  they  change  the  religion 
which  had  sealed  their  dear  liberties  with  its  divine  sanc- 
tion, and  the  principles  and  the  worship  of  which  were 
so  closely  interwoven  with  their  most  cherished  reminis- 
cences }  *'  Intelligence  had  not  penetrated  to  those 
heights,"  forsooth  !  They  were  not  sufficiently  enlightened 
to  perceive, — what  no  one  has  yet  perceived — that  the 
seditions  and  tumults  which  every  where  marked  the  pro- 
gress of  the  reformation,  were  favorable  to  liberty!  They 
may  bless  the  day,  in  which  tliey  took  the  resolution  to 
adhere  to  the  faith  of  their  patriotic  forefathers  :  and,  from 
their  mountain  heights,  amidst  "  their  peaceful  retreats," 
they  may  look  down  with  proud  complacency  on  their 
"brethren  of  the  plain"  torn  by  civil  factions  and  reli- 
gious dissensions — persecuting  and  proscribing  each  other 
— all  in  consequence  of  their  having  had  the  "intelli- 
gence" to  embrace  the  "glorious  reformation!" 

John  Quincy  Adams,  the  "  old  man  eloquent,"  has 
offered  a  more  plausible  solution  of  the  difficulty  which  so 
sadly  puzzled  the  mind  of  M.  D'Aubigne.  In  a  recent 
speech  at  Buffalo,  he  said  that  "liberty  was  a  mountain 
nymph,"  who  loved  always  to  breathe  the  purest  air,  and 
to  dwell  in  the  most  lofty  situations,  nearest  to  heaven  ! 
The  old  Swiss  cantons  had  an  instinctive  feeling  of  the 
truth  of  this  beautiful  and  poetic  thought.  They  loved 
liberty,  and  therefore  they  remained  Catholic  !t 

•  Vol.  1,  p.  82,  83. 

f  In  the  next  chapter,  we  will  show  the  political  thraldom  of  Geneva 
under  Calrin. 
25* 


294  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

Did  our  space  permit,  we  might  here  show  what  were 
the  political  opinions  of  the  various  Catholic  States  of 
Europe,  adopted  under  the  influence  of  the  Catholic 
church,  for  centuries  before  the  reformation  was  heard  of. 
We  might  prove,  that  the  Catholic  church  was  the  mother 
of  republics;  and  that,  long  before  the  reformation,  every 
important  principle  of  free  government — popular  repre- 
sentation, trial  by  jury,  exemption  from  taxation  without 
the  consent  of  the  governed,  habeas  corpus,  and  the  great 
fundamental  principle,  that  all  power  emanates  from  the 
people — were  generally  recognized  and  firmly  established. 
"We  might  show,  how  almost  every  one  of  these  sacred 
principles  was  successfully  trampled  on  and  abolished  by 
that  very  reformation,  which  is  forever  boasting  its  advo- 
cacy of  free  principles!  But  this  field  is  so  ample,  and 
withal  so  interesting,  that  we  have  deemed  it  advisable  to 
devote  a  special  essay  to  the  elucidation  of  the  varied  ob- 
jects of  interest  it  opens  to  the  view.*  By  comparing  the 
political  state  of  Europe  in  the  good  old  Catholic  times, 
with  what  it  subsequently  became,  after  the  reformation 
■had  done  its  work,  the  reader  will  be  best  enabled  to  as- 
certain and  appreciate  the  influence  of  this  latter  revolu- 
tion on  civil  liberty. 

4.  Enough  has,  however,  been  already  established  to  en- 
able the  impartial  reader  to  form  an  enlightened  judgment 
on  the  political  influence  of  the  reformation.  We  have  seen, 
that  with  liberty  forever  on  its  lips,  it  really  trampled  un- 
der foot  almost  every  element  of  popular  government: 
that  it  weakened,  and  in  many  cases  for  a  long  time,  en- 
tirely destroyed  all  security  to  life,  to  property,  and  to 
the  pursuit  of  happiness:  and  that  withal,  it  imposed  the 
intolerable  yoke  of  absolute  despotism,  with  union  of 
church  and  state,  on  the  necks  of  its  disciples  !  And  all 
this,  after  men  had  been  seduced  to  its  banner,  by  the 
enticing  name  of  liberty  which  they  read  inscribed  thereon ! 

*  See  the  essay  "  On  the  Influence  of  Catholicity  on  Civil  Liberty." 


INFLUENCE  OF  THE  REFORM   ON  CIVIL  LIBERTY.  295 

We  have  not  yet  alluded  to  the  influence  of  the  reforma- 
tion on  one  other  essential  element  of  free  government — 
security  to  character.  Did  the  reformation  provide  more 
ample  security  to  this — the  dearest  perhaps  of  all  human 
rights,  than  had  been  ensured  during  the  Catholic  times  ? 

The  reformation,  as  we  have  already  shown,  created 
dissensions  and  sowed  distrust  among  those  who  had  been 
hitherto  united  as  brothers.  It  split  up  the  religious  world, 
till  then  ''one  sheepfold  under  one  shepherd,"  into  a  hun- 
dred warring  sects.  These  carried  on  bitter  controversies 
with  each  other,  and  all  united  in  fiercely  denouncing  those 
who  continued  faithful  to  the  religion  of  their  forefathers. 
Acrimonious  denunciation,  and  personal  recrimination, 
with  the  most  scurrilous  abuse,  were  the  order  of  the  day 
under  the  new  state  of  things.  The  arms  of  ridicule, 
caricature,  misrepresentation  and  open  calumny  were 
constantly  used,  in  the  hallowed  name  of  the  religion  of 
peace  and  love !  No  man's  character  was  then  secure, 
especially  if  he  had  the  independence  to  adhere  to  the 
ancient  faith,  and  to  call  in  question  the  infallibility  of  the 
new  dogmatizers.  Does  not  every  one  recognize  at  once 
the  truth  of  this  picture  ?  And  is  it  not  true,  to  a  great 
extent,  even  at  the  present  day  ?  What  security  then, 
we  ask,  did  the  reformation  provide  for  character  ^ 

Thus,  the  reformation  trampled  in  the  dust,  every  im- 
portant object  of  free  government — security  to  life,  to 
character,  to  property,  to  the  pursuit  of  happiness,  to  per- 
sonal liberty !  And  yet  we  are  still  to  be  told,  that  to  it 
we  are  indebted  for  all  the  liberty  we  possess  !  Truly  !  if 
liberty  was  still  preserved  in  some  places,  and  if  "society 
was  saved"  from  barbarism,  it  was  rather  in  sj}ite,  than  in 
consequence,  of  the  reformation  ! 

In  farther  confirmation  of  what  has  been  already  ad- 
vanced in  this  and  the  preceding  chapters,  we  will  here 
briefly  give  the  testimony  of  the  two  recent  Protestant 
travellers  referred  to  above — Bremiier  and  Laing — in  re- 
gard to  the  present  condition  of  civil  and  religious  liberty 


296  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

in  northern  Europe,  which  has  been  for  three  centuries 
under  Protestant  influence. 

Mr.  Bremner  assures  us  that  the  king  of  Denmark  is 
**  the  most  uncontrolled  sovereign  in  Europe.  We  have 
looked  for,"  he  adds,  **  but  can  find  no  single  check  to  the 
power  of  the  king  of  Denmark.  Laws,  property,  taxes, 
all  are  at  the  mercy  of  his  tyranny  or  caprice."  The 
Danes  boast  much  of  theliberationof  the  peasants  in  1660: 
but  Mr.  Bremner  says,  "that  this  was  not  a  liberation  of 
any  class  in  the  kingdom,  but  the  more  complete  subjuga- 
tion of  all  classes  to  the  crown ;  and  that  the  peasants  re- 
mained and  still  remain  in  many  parts  of  Denmark  little 
better  than  serfs."* 

Mr.  Laing  confirms  this  statement.  This  is  his  remarka- 
ble language;  "it  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable  circum- 
stances in  modern  history,  that  about  the  middle  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  when  all  other  countries  were  ad- 
vancing towards  constitutional  arrangements  of  some  kind 
or  other,  for  the  security  of  civil  and  religious  liberty, 
Denmark  by  a  formal  act  of  her  states  or  Diet,  abrogated 
even  that  shadow  of  a  constitution,  and  invested  her  sove- 
reigns with  full  despotic  power  to  make  and  execute  law, 
without  any  check  or  control  on  their  absolute  authority. 
Lord  Molesworth,  who  wTote  an  account  of  Denmark  in 
1692,  thirty-two  years  after  this  singular  transaction, 
makes  the  curious  observation — •  that  in  the  Roman  Catho- 
lic religion  there  is  a  resisting  principle  to  absolute  civil 
power,  from  the  division  of  authority  with  the  heads  of  the 
church  at  Rome ;  but  in  the  North,  the  Lutheran  church 
is  entirely  subservient  to  the  civil  power,  and  the  whole 
of  the  Northern  people  of  Protestant  countries,  have  lost 
their  liberties  ever  since  they  changed  their  religion  for  a 
better.''  ....  *  The  blind  obedience  which  is  destructive 
of  natural  liberty,  is,  he  conceives,  more  firmly  established 

*  In  the  work  cited  above,  chap.  viii. — See  Dublin  Review  for 
May,  1843. 


INFLUENCE  OF  THE  REFORM  ON  CIVIL  LIBERTY.        297" 

in  the  Northern  kingdoms  bj  the  entire  and  sole  depen- 
dence of  the  clergy  upon  the  prince,  without  the  inter- 
ference of  any  spiritual  superior,  as  that  of  the  Pope 
among  Romanists  (!),  than  in  the  countries  which  remained 
Catholic.'"* 

This  observation  of  Lord  Molesworth  is  clearly  grounded 
in  history;  and  Mr.  Laing  confirms  its  truth  in  his  work 
on  Sweden.  He  says:  "the  Swede  has  no  freedom  of 
mind,  no  power  of  dissent  in  religious  opinion  from  the 
established  church;  because  although  toleration  nominally 
exists,  a  man  not  baptized,  confirmed  and  instructed  by 
the  clergyman  of  the  establishment,  could  not  communi- 
cate in  the  established  church,  and  could  not  marry,  or 
hold  office,  or  exercise  any  act  of  majority  as  a  citizen — 
would,  in  fact,  be  an  outlaw !" 

He  then  goes  on  to  prove  that  there  is  in  Sweden  a  most 
rigid  form  of  inquisition,  which  annually,  even  at  this  day, 
severely  punishes  from  forty  to  fifty  persons  for  alleged 
offences  against  religion.  "  The  crime  of  *  mockery  of  the 
public  service  of  God,  or  contemptuous  behaviour  during 
the  same,'  "  he  says,  *'  is  the  first  in  the  rubrick  of  the  se- 
cond class  of  crimes  :  that  is,  it  comes  after  murder,  blas- 
phemy, sodomy,  but  before  perjury,  forgery,  or  theft.  It 
is,  evidently,  a  very  undefined  crime,  but  is  visited  with 
punishment  in  chains  for  various  terms  of  years,  as  a  crime 
against  the  church  establishment.  Between  1830  and  1 836, 
not  fewer  than  two  hundred  and  forty -two  persons  have 
been  condemned  to  chains  for  this  crime  in  Sweden.  Who 
will  say,  that  the  Inquisition  was  abolished  by  Luther's 
reformation  ?  It  has  only  been  incorporated  v/ith  the  state 
in  Lutheran  countries,  and  exercised  by  the  church  through 
the  ecclesiastical  department  of  government  in  the  civil 
courts,  instead  of  in  the  church  courts.  The  thing  itself 
remains  in  vigor ;  Lord  Molesworth  was  right  when  he 
said,  that  the  whole  of  the  Northern  people  of  Lutheran 

*  Work  cited  above,  chap.  viii. 


298  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

countries  had  lost  their  liberties  ever  since  they  changed 
their  religion  for  a  better."  (worse?) 

In  Sweden,  and  in  fact  in  all  Northern  Europe,  the 
lower  orders  are  little  better  than  slaves.  The  servant 
may  be  cudgelled  by  his  master,  and  no  matter  how  bar- 
barously he  be  treated,  provided  he  be  neither  killed  nor 
maimed,  he  has  no  legal  recourse.  Mr.  Laing  tells  us  as 
much.  **  The  servant  has  no  right  of  action  on  the  master 
for  personal  maltreatment,  and  during  his  time  of  service 
has  no  more  rights  than  a  slave."  "  These  people,"  he 
adds,  "  are  trained  to  obedience,  and  in  that  class,  to  con- 
sider nothing  their  own  but  what  is  left  to  them  by  the 
clergy  and  the  government,  to  whom,  in  the  first  place, 
their  labors,  time,  and  property  must  belong.  A  country 
in  this  state,  wants  the  very  foundation  on  which  civil 
liberty  must  stand — a  sense  of  independence  and  property 
among  the  people." 

He  sums  up  his  remarks  on  the  political  and  religious 
condition  of  Sweden  as  follows  : — "  Such  a  state  of  laws 
and  institutions  in  a  country,  reduces  the  people  as  moral 
beings  to  the  state  of  a  soldiery,  who,  if  they  fulfil  their 
regimental  duties  and  military  regulations,  consider  them- 
selves absolved  from  all  other  restraints  on  conduct.  This 
is  the  condition  of  the  Swedish  people.  The  mass  of  the 
nation  is  in  a  state  of  pupilage,  living  like  soldiers  in  a 
regiment,  under  classes  or  oligarchies  of  privileged  bodies 
— the  public  functionaries,  clergy,  nobility,  owners  of 
estate  exempt  from  taxation,  and  incorporated  traders  ex- 
empt from  competition.  Under  this  pressure  in  Sweden 
upon  industry,  property,  liberty,  free  opinion  and  free  will, 
education  is  but  a  source  of  amusement,  or  of  speculation 
in  science,  without  influence  on  private  morals,  or  public 
aftairs;  and  religion,  a  superstitious  observance  of  church 
days,  forms  and  ordinances,  with  a  blind  veneration  for 
the  clergy,"  &c. 

The  politico-religious  condition  of  Prussia  is  not  a  whit 
more  flattering.     The  serf  system  continued  to  prevail  in 


INFLUENCE  OF  THE  REFORM  ON  CIVIL  LIBERTY.  299 

this  kingdom  up  to  the  beginning  of  the  present  century; 
and  Mr.  Laing  assures  us,  that  "the  condition  of  these 
born -serfs" — the  great  body  of  the  people — **  was  very- 
similar  to  that  of  the  negro  slaves  on  the  West  India  es- 
tate during  the  apprenticeship  term,  before  their  final 
emancipation." 

He  proves  that  the  so  much  vaunted  system  of  common 
school  education  in  Prussia,  is  little  more  than  a  powerful 
state  engine  to  enslave  the  people.  "This  educational 
system  is  in  fact,  from  the  cradle  to  the  grave,  nothing 
but  a  deception,  a  delusion  put  upon  the  noblest  principle 
of  human  nature — the  desire  for  intellectual  development 
—a  deception  practised  for  the  paltry  political  end  of 
rearing  the  individual  to  be  part  and  parcel  of  an  artifi- 
cial system  of  despotic  government,  of  training  him  to  be 
either  its  instrument  or  its  slave,  according  to  his  social 
station." 

He  demonstrates  the  utter  political  degradation  of  Prus- 
sia, by  enlarging  upon  the  apathy  with  which  the  royal 
fusion  of  the  two  Protestant  sects  into  one  by  the  late  king 
of  Prussia,  was  viewed  by  the  mass  of  the  population.  He 
proves  at  length  that  the  Prussian  is,  in  every  respect,  the 
veriest  slave — bound  hand  and  foot  by  government. 

Such  then  has  been,  from  unexceptionable  Protestant 
testimony,  the  practical  influence  of  the  reformation  on 
civil  and  religious  liberty  in  those  countries  where  that 
influence  has  been  least  checked,  and  longest  exercised  ! ! 


CHAPTER    XIII. 


THE  REFORMATION  AT  GENEVA,  AND  ITS  INFLUENCE  ON  CIVIL  AND 
RELIGIOUS  LIBERTY. 

Character  of  Calvinism — Reviewing  in  advance — Protestant  iiistorians 
— The  "  Registers" — M.  Audin — Calvin's  character — Luther  and 
Calvin  compared — Early  liberties  of  Geneva — The  "  Libertines" — 
Blue  laws — Spy-system — Persecution — Death  of  Gruet — Burning  of 
Servetus — Hallam's  testimony — Morals  of  Calvin — His  zeal — His 
complicated  diseases — His  last  will — His  awful  death  and  mysterious 
burial — A  douceur — The  inference. 

The  second  greater  branch  of  the  reformation  was  that 
established  at  Geneva  bj  John  Calvin.  Of  all  the  reform- 
ers, he  was  perhaps  the  most  acute,  learned,  and  talented. 
And  he  has  succeeded,  better  than  any  of  them,  in  impres- 
sing his  own  stern  and  morose  character  on  the  sect  he 
founded.  Geneva  was  the  centre  of  his  operations,  as 
Wittemberg  was  of  those  of  Luther,  and  Zurich,  of  those 
of  Zuingle.  Starting  from  Geneva,  Calvinism  soon  spread 
through  Switzerland,  and  extended  to  France,  Holland, 
Scotland  and  England;  and  even  on  the  soil  of  Germany 
itself,  it  was  soon  able  to  dispute  the  supremacy  with  the 
sect  there  established  by  Luther. 

We  have  deferred  till  now  our  account  of  the  origin  and 
progress  of  Calvinism,  because  we  intend  to  view  it  chiefly 
in  its  bearing  on  the  subjects  treated  of  in  the  two  previous 
chapters — civil  and  religious  liberty.  Besides,  in  point 
of  time,  it  is  posterior  to  the  branches  of  the  reformation 
established   by  Luther  and  Zuingle.     M.  D'Aubigne's 


GENEVAN  REFORM ITS  INFLUENCE  ON  LIBERTY.        501 

History  of  *'  the  great  reformation,"  does  not  embrace 
that  of  Calvinism  :  he  merely  gives  us  a  few  incidents  in 
the  childhood  and  early  youth*  of  the  Genevan  reformer  ;t 
together  with  a  brief  account  of  the  early  labors  of  the- 
minister  Farel,  Calvin's  predecessor  at  Geneva.  As,  how- 
ever, the  next  volume  "^of  this  work,  if  it  ever  appear,  will 
probably  enter  on  this  subject  in  full,  we  may  be  allowed 
to  anticipate  somewhat,  and  by  an  honest  hibernianism,  to 
review  it  in  advance. 

Much  additional  light  has  been  lately  shed  on  the  his- 
tory of  early  Calvinism.  Protestant  as  well  as  Catholic 
historians  have  labored  with  great  success  in  this  field. 
Among  the  former,  we  mention  as  the  most  distinguished, 
Galiffe,  Gaberel,  and  Fazy.  These  three  learned  Protest- 
ants have  all  contributed  greatly  to  elucidate  the  history 
of  Geneva  in  the  sixteenth  century.  The  last  named,  M. 
Fazy,  published  in  1838  at  Geneva,  his  "  Essay  on  the 
History  of  the  Genevan  Republic, "J  in  which  he  enlarges 
on  the  influence  of  Calvinism  on  the  destinies  of  the 
republic.  The  work  of  Gaberel,  entitled  "  Calvin  at 
Geneva,"§  enters  more  directly  into  the  subject,  and  fur- 
nishes additional  details. 

But,  for  ability,  and  research  into  the  history  of  early 
Calvinism,  they  are  both  perhaps  surpassed  by  M.  Galiffe. 
His  three  volumes  of  "  Genealogical  Notices  of  Genevan 
Families, "11  unfold  much  of  the  secret  history  of  Geneva 
under  the  theocracy  of  Calvin.  He  has  ferreted  out  and 
published  to  the  world  the  famous  **  Registers"  of  the  Gen- 
evan consistory  and  council  during  the  sixteenth  century. 
These  had  been  long  lost  to  the  world.     The  friends  of 


*  He  takes  special  care,  however,  not  to  allude  to  a  certain  passage 
in  Calvin's  youth,  of  which  hereafter. 

t  Book  xii,  at  the  end  of  the  third  volume. 

\  "  Essai  d'un  precis  de  I'Histoire  de  la  Rep.  Genevaise,"  2  vols.  8vo. 
§  "  Calvin  a  Geneve,"  8vo.  1836. 

II  "  Notices  Genealogiques   sur  ies   Families  Genevaises,"  3  vols. 
1831,  1836. 
26 


302  d'axjbigne's  history  reviewed. 

Calvin  had  carefully  concealed  them,  out  of  respect  to 
their  father  in  the  faith. 

When  quite  recently,  M.  Vemet  requested  the  Gene- 
van secretary  of  state,  M .  Chapeau rouge,  to  communicate 
to  him  the  order  of  proceedings  touching  Servetus,  the 
council  of  state,  to  whom  the  matter  was  referred,  refused 
to  grant  the  request.  However,  M.  Calandrini,  the  Syn- 
dic of  Geneva,  answered,  that  *'  the  conduct  of  Calvin  and 
the  council  in  that  affair  were  such,  that  they  wished  to 
bury  it  in  deep  oblivion."*  But  thanks  to  the  indefatiga- 
ble researches  of  Galiffe,  and  to  the  growing  indifference 
of  the  ministers  of  Geneva  for  the  memory  of  Calvin,  those 
long  hidden  records  of  the  political  and  religious  history 
of  Geneva  during  Calvin's  life-time,  have  been  at  length 
revealed  to  the  world.  A  Protestant  has  thus  removed 
the  dark  veil  which  has  hung  over  the  cradle  of  Calvinism 
for  centuries ! 

M.  Audin,  in  his  late  *' Life  of  Calvin, "t  has  availed 
himself  of  the  labors  of  all  his  predecessors  in  this  inter- 
esting branch  of  religious  history.  He  qualified  himself 
for  his  task  by  much  patient  labor  and  research.  He  as- 
sures us  that  there  was  not  a  library  of  any  note  in  France 
or  Germany  which  he  did  not  visit.:}:  In  his  travels, 
he  discovered  many  letters  of  Calvin  hitherto  unpublished. 
Among  these  is  his  famous  letter  to  Farel,  which  he  found 
in  the  hand-writing  of  Calvin  himself,  in  the  royal  library 
at  Paris.§  The  publication  of  this  letter — which  is  of  un- 
doubted genuinenessll — has  shed  much  additional  light  on 
the  agency  of  Calvin  in  compassing  the  death  of  Servetus. 

In  what  we  will  say  on  the  history  of  the  reformation  at 
Geneva,  we  shall  follow  all  these  authors.     INIore  particu- 

*  The  letter  of  the  Syndic  is  published  in  full  by  Galiffe  in  his  "No- 
tices" sup.  cit. 

t  "Histoire  de  la  Vie,  des  Ouvrages  et  des  Doctrines  de  Calvin" — 
ParM.  Audin, auteurde  "I'Histoirede  Luther," — 2  vols.  8vo.  Paris, 1843. 

X  Introduction,  p.  19.  §  Published  in  full,  vol.  ii,  p.  313,  seqq. 

II  See  Hallam—"  Hist,  of  Literature,"  vol.  1,  p,  280.— Note. 


GENEVAN  REFORM ITS  INFLUENCE  ON  LIBERTY.       303 

larly  will  we  avail  ourselves  of  the  facts  disclosed  by  M. 
Audin.  Our  plan  does  not  of  course  require,  nor  will  the 
limits  of  one  chapter  permit,  any  very  lengthy  details  on 
the  history  of  early  Calvinism.  The  character  of  this 
branch  of  the  "great  reformation,"  is,  in  fact,  nearly  the 
same  as  that  of  those  of  Wittemberg  and  Zurich,  of  which 
we  have  already  treated  at  some  length.  Similar  means 
were  also  adopted  to  bring  it  about.  Its  effects  on  society, 
as  we  shall  endeavor  to  show,  were  also  nearly  the  same.* 

John  Calvin  was  born  at  Noyon,  in  France,  on  the  10th 
of  July,  1509,  and  he  died  at  Geneva,  on  the  19th  of  May, 
1564,  in  the  fifty-fifth  year  of  his  age.  The  first  feature 
that  strikes  us  in  his  character  is  his  untiring  industry 
and  restless  activity.  Whether  we  view  him  as  a  student 
frequenting  the  schools  at  Paris — as  a  minister  at  Geneva, 
concerting  with  the  ministers  Farel  and  Froment  his  plans 
for  carrying  out  the  reformation — as  an  exile  at  Stras- 
burg,  intermeddling  with  the  affairs  of  German  diets  and 
German  reformers — or,  after  his  return  to  Geneva  from 
the  exile  into  which  his  restlessness  had  driven  him — 
throughout  his  whole  life,  in  fact,  he  is  the  same  busy,  in- 
triguing, restless  character.  He  was  never  asleep  at  his 
post ;  he  was  always  on  the  alert ;  he  toiled  day  and  night 
in  carrying  out  his  plans. 

He  was  as  cool  and  calculating  as  he  was  active.  He 
seldom  failed  to  put  down  an  enemy — and  every  oppo- 
nent was  his  enemy — because  he  could  seldom  be  taken  at 
a  disadvantage.  His  vigilance  detected  their  plans,  and 
his  prompt  activity  thwarted  them.  Though  very  irrita- 
ble, and  inexorable  in  his  anger,  yet  his  passion  did  not 
cloud  his  understanding,  nor  hinder  the  carrying  out  of 

*  Those  who  may  wish  to  see  a  full  history  of  Calvinism  in  its  various 
workings  in  different  countries  of  Europe,  are  referred  to  the  "  Oral 
Discussion"  between  Rev.  Messrs.  Hughes  and  Breckenridge — 2d  QxLcst. 
The  former  has  anatomized  Calvinism  with  all  the  sang  froid  and  skill 
of  a  Dupuytren  or  a  Dudley  :  while  the  latter  quietly  looked  on,  in  dis- 
respectful silence  !^ 


304  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

his  deliberate  purpose.  In  temperament  he  was  cold  and 
repulsive — even  sour  and  morose.  He  mingled  little  with 
others,  and  was  as  reserved  in  his  conversations  as  he  was 
fond  of  retirement  and  study. 

If  he  had  any  heart,  he  never  gave  evidence  of  the  fact 
by  the  manifestation  of  feeling.  At  the  death  of  his  first 
and  only  child,  he  shed  not  one  tear.  In  a  letter  to  the 
minister  Viret,  he  coldly  informed  him  of  the  fact,  and 
invited  him  to  pay  him  a  visit  at  Strasburg,  telling  him,  as 
an  inducement  to  come,  *that  they  could  enjoy  them- 
selves, and  talk  together  for  half  a  day.'*  He  never  man- 
ifested the  least  sympathy  for  those  in  distress,  though  in 
many  cases  he  was  himself  the  cause  of  their  sufferings. 
Thus,  when  Servetus,  on  hearing  that  he  was  condemned 
to  the  stake,  gave  way  to  his  feelings  in  a  burst  of  agony 
and  tears,  Calvin  mocked  at  his  distress  by  writing  to  one 
of  his  friends  that  *  he  bellowed  after  the  manner  of  a 
Spaniard — mercy,  inercy.^i 

Thus  also,  when  Castalio,  one  of  the  most  excellent 
men  and  accomplished  scholars  of  his  age,  was  on  the 
very  verge  of  starvation  at  Berne,  whither  he  had  re- 
paired to  escape  Calvin's  persecution  at  Geneva,  the  re- 
former had  the  cold-heartedness  to  remind  him  that  he 
had  fed  at  his  table  in  Strasburg;  and,  to  do  away  with 
the  effect  of  Castalio's  arguments,  which  he  found  it  dif- 
ficult to  answer,  he  accused  him  of  theft !  To  the  first 
charge  Castalio  answered,  *I  lodged  with  you,  it  is  true, 
about  a  week  ....  but  I  paid  you  for  what  I  had  eaten. 
How  cordially  you  and  Beza  hate  me. 'J  The  charge  of 
theft  he  indignantly  repelled  as  follows :  *And  who  told 
you  that  ?  Your  spies  have  deceived  you.  Reduced  to 
the  most  frightful  misery  ....  I  took  a  hook,  and  went 
to  gather  the  wood  which  floated   upon  the  Rhine,  which 

*  See  Audin,  Vie  de  Calvin,  vol.  i,  p.  351,  note,  for  Calvin's  words. 
t  "  Ut    tantum  Hispanico  more  reboaret :    3Iisencordia,    misericor- 
dia  /"    Ibid.  vol.  ii,  p.  304. 

X  Castalio— Defensio,  pp.  26,  40.    Apud  Audin,  ibid.  vol.  ii,  p.  239. 


GENEYAN  REFORM ITS  INFLUENCE  ON  LIBERTY.       305 

belonged  to  no  one,  and  which  I  fished  up,  and  burnt 
afterwards  at  my  house  to  warm  myself.  Do  you  call 
this  theft?'*  Castalio,  thus  hunted  down  by  his  inexora- 
ble enemy,  literally  died  of  hunger  while  struggling  to 
maintain,  by  his  learning,  a  wife  and  eight  children.  But 
he  had  had  the  misfortune  to  differ  with  Calvin  on  pre- 
destination while  at  Geneva,  and  the  boldness  to  reprove 
him  and  his  colleagues  with  an  intolerant  spirit.  *  Paul,' 
he  had  told  them,  *  chastised  himself,  you  torment  others. 't 

Calvin's  personal  appearance  was  an  index  to  his 
character.  He  was  of  middle  height,  of  a  lean  and  sup- 
ple figure,  with  a  contracted  chest,  with  the  veins  of  his 
neck  full  and  prominent,  his  mouth  well  made  and  large, 
his  lips  bluish,  his  forehead  expanded,  bony,  and  fur- 
rowed with  wrinkles,  his  eye  restless,  and,  when  he  was 
excited,  darting  fire.  His  ceaseless  labors  caused  him  to 
become  prematurely  gra}',  and  gave  him  a  pale  and  ca- 
daverous aspect.  He  was  a  man  from  whose  appearance 
YOU  would  expect  little  that  was  not  the  result  of  hard 
labor. 

What  a  contrast  between  him  and  Luther!  Luther, 
a  creature  of  impulse,  a  portly  ex-friar,  fond  of  good 
cheer,  and  never  more  at  home  than  when  conversing: 
with  boon  companions  at  the  Black  Eagle  tavern  :  Cal- 
vin, meagre,  silent,  and  morose,  shut  up  within  himself, 
chilling  all  with  his  reserve — all  head  and  no  heart.  In 
the  pulpit  the  difference  was  most  marked.  Luther  spoke 
extemporaneously,  and,  without  method  or  choice  of 
words,  bore  all  before  him  by  a  torrent  of  passionate  in- 
vective and  boisterous  declamation.  Calvin  was  cold  and 
unimpassioned,  his  diction  was  pure  and  polished,  his 
thoughts  clear  and  precise,  and  his  whole  manner  calcu- 
lated to  make  a  more  deep  and  lasting  impression  on  his 
hearers.  Calvin's  was  the  eloquence  of  the  head,  Lu- 
ther's of  the  heart. 

*  Defens.  p.  12,  ibid.  p.  248.  f  Ibid-  P-  234. 


306  d'aubigne'b  history  reviewed. 

But  they  agreed  in  one  thing — thej  both  crushed  tne 
liberties  of  the  people  in  the  countries  which  were  the  re- 
spective theatres  of  their  labors.  Their  profession  of 
breaking  the  bonds  of  religious  slavery,  and  of  securing 
political  freedom  to  the  people,  was  all  talk.  It  is  too 
late  in  the  day  to  hold  them  up  as  the  champions  of  popu- 
lar rights.  The  effect  of  the  reformation,  both  at  Wit- 
temberg  and  at  Geneva,  was  to  weaken  the  democratic 
principle;  in  both  places  the  rights  of  the  lower  orders 
were  trampled  under  foot.  In  Germany  Luther  conjured 
up  a  storm  which  he  could  not  control.  We  have  al- 
ready shown  how  he  first  stirred  up  the  people  to  revolt, 
and  then  clamored  for  their  blood,  and  how  he  succeeded 
in  destroying  their  liberties. 

Calvin  also  crushed  the  liberties  of  the  people,  but  in 
a  more  insidious  manner  :  he  robbed  them  of  their  free- 
dom in  the  name  of  liberty.  A  foreigner,  he  insinuated 
himself  into  Geneva,  and,  serpent-like,  coiled  himself 
around  the  very  heart  of  the  republic  which  had  adopted 
him  ;  nor  did  he  relax  his  hold  so  long  as  he  lived.  He 
thus  stung  the  bosom  which  had  warmed  him.  That  this 
language  is  not  too  strong,  the  following  plain  statement 
of  facts  will  show. 

The  cantons  of  Switzerland  formed  one  of  the  many 
republics  of  the  middle  ages.  They  owed  all  their  liber- 
ties, and  their  very  existence  as  a  distinct  government,  to 
Catholics  in  Catholic  times.  William  Tell,  Melchtal, 
and  Furst  were  the  fathers  of  Swiss  liberty.  In  1307 
was  fought  by  these  heroes  the  famous  battle  of  Morgar- 
ten,  which  drove  the  Austrians  from  Switzerland,  and 
secured  Swiss  independence.  The  bishops  of  Geneva 
had  been  its  greatest  benefactors.  They  had  more  than 
once  protected  the  rights  of  the  city  against  the  aggres- 
sions of  the  dukes  of  Savoy  themselves.  One  of  them — 
Adhemar  Fabri — as  early  as  1387,  had  written  out  the 
laws  and  privileges  of  the  city;  and  the  book  was  vene- 
rated as  containing  the  magna  charta  of  Genevan  liber- 


GENEVAN  REFORM ITS  INFLUKNCB  ON  LIBERTY.  S07 

ties.  Those  laws  provided  that  the  citizens  had  the  sole 
right  of  inflicting  capital  punishment ;  that  none  should 
be  tortured  without  the  consent  of  the  people;  that,  from 
the  rising  to  the  setting  of  the  sun,  the  citizens  were  the 
sole  guardians  of  the  city;  and  that  no  agent  of  the  duke 
or  bishop  could  exercise  any  power  during  that  time,  and 
that  the  citizens  alone  had  the  right  to  elect  their  burgo- 
masters.* 

Calvin  trampled  every  one  of  these  privileges  in  the 
dust.  At  the  instigation  of  the  ministers  Farel  and  Fro- 
ment,  Geneva  had  already  cast  off  the  mild  yoke  of  her 
episcopal  court.  Instead  of  it,  she  was  doomed  to  wear, 
riveted  on  her  neck,  the  iron  yoke  of  Calvin's  consistory. 
This  spiritual  court  of  Calvin's  devising  gradually  mo- 
nopolized all  power  in  Geneva.  The  hitherto  free  coun- 
cil of  the  burgomasters  became  a  mere  tool  in  its  hands. 
With  its  appliances  of  preachers,  elders,  and  spies,  it 
penetrated  every  where,  and  struck  terror  into  every 
bosom.  The  pulpit  was  then  a  powerful  instrument  in 
the  hands  of  the  police.  Every  one  trembled  at  the  de- 
nunciation of  the  ministers,  for  it  was  sure  to  be  followed 
by  ulterior  consequences. 

Whoever  will  read  M.  Audin's  book,  and  the  Protest- 
ant historians  referred  to  above,  must  be  convinced  of  the 
truth  of  these  remarks.  Our  limits  will  not  allow  co- 
pious details  :  we  must  confine  ourselves  to  some  of  the 
more  prominent  facts  which  support  the  statement  just 
made. 

In  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century,  Geneva  was 
the  great  commercial  heart  of  Europe.  Occupying  a  cen- 
tral position  between  Italy,  Germany,  and  France,  it  was 
a  common  mart  for  the  goods  of  each.  The  enterprising 
flocked  there  from  all  parts  of  Europe.     It  was  also  a  city 

*  Hottinger,  Hist,  des  Eglises  de  la  Suisse  ;  Audin,  vol.  ii,  p.  15. 
Those  laws  are  written  in  the  quaint  old  Latin  of  that  period,  and  pre- 
sent a  strange  mixture  of  the  old  Savoyard  Patois  with  the  classical 
Latin. 


508  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

of  refuge  for  all  the  uneasy  and  restless  spirits  who,  for 
religious  or  political  intrigues,  had  been  forced  to  leave 
their  own  country.  The  population  of  Geneva  was,  in 
consequence,  of  a  most  motley  character.  Calvin  was 
among  the  many  French  refugees  who  took  shelter  there. 
Before  his  arrival,  the  reformation  had  been  already 
effected  by  the  agency  of  Farel  and  Fremont.  Its  course 
had  been  marked,  as  elsewhere,  by  pillage  of  the  churches, 
by  seizure  of  church  property,  by  destruction  of  works  of 
art,  by  robbery  and  sacrilege,  and  by  massacres.  You 
might  have  traced  it,  by  its  effects,  as  you  could  have 
traced  the  march  of  an  army  of  Huns  in  the  fifth  century. 
La  Soeur  Jeanne  de  Jussie,  a  nun  of  St.  Clare,  an  eye- 
witness of  these  horrors,  and  a  sufferer  by  them,  has  left 
a  most  graphic  description  of  them,  and  M.  Audin  has 
given  us  an  abstract  of  her  interesting  work.* 

Such  was  the  state  of  things  when  Calvin  came  to  Ge- 
neva. Among  its  citizens,  the  meclianics  and  common 
laborers  formed  a  numerous  class.  These  constituted  a 
distinct  political  party,  who  viewed  with  an  evil  eye  the 
ascendancy  acquired  by  Calvin  and  the  other  foreign 
refugees.  Calvin  could  not  brook  them,  and  styled  them 
sneeringly  the  party  of  the  '  Libertines.'  And  the  his- 
tory of  his  protracted  and  bitter  contest  with  them  forms 
the  matter  of  many  long  chapters  in  M.  Audin's  book.t 
The  high-priest  at  Geneva  could  not  bear  them,  because, 
in  their  evening-parties,!  they  took  the  unwarrantable 
liberty  of  laughing  at  him — at  his  cadaverous  figure,  his 
withered  hands,  and  his  nasal  twang  in  the  pulpit;  and 
they  had  even  gone  so  far  as  to  call  him  '  le  renard 
Franqois,^  or  *  the  French  fox.^ 

Besides,  they  had  the  unpardonable  effrontery  to  drink 
healths,  to  dance,  and  otherwise  amuse  themselves  when 
the  labors  of  the  day  were  over.     Calvin's  sour  and  mo- 

*  Vol.  i,  p.  195  to  215. 
t  Chapters  i,  vi,  vUi,  and  xv  of  vol.  ii.      X  Audin,  vol.  i\,  p.  13,  seq. 


GENEVAN  REFORM — ITS  INFLUENCE  ON  LIBERTY.        S09 

rose  temperament  could  ill  brook  this  cheerfulness,  and 
especially  those  sallies  at  his  expense.  Besides,  he  was 
troubled  with  the  asthma,  and  was  subject  to  vertigo  and 
headach.  And  what  right  had  tliose  vulgar  clowns  to 
shock  his  nerves,  or  to  disturb  his  sleep  ?  What  right 
had  thej  to  their  old  and  long-cherished  national  amuse- 
ments, if  it  was  in  the  least  displeasing  to  the  humor  of 
this  splenetic  stranger  ?  What  right  had  they  to  sing,  or 
to  laugh  at  his  peculiarities  ?  If  it  was  not  downright 
blasphemy,  as  the  minister  more  than  once  intimated  from 
the  pulpit,  it  was  at  least  very  impolite  in  them  not  to 
wear  longer  faces,  at  least  while  he  was  in  the  city. 

Calvin  determined  to  put  down  the  "  Libertines ;"  and, 
to  effect  his  purpose,  he  procured  the  enactment  of  a  body 
of  laws,  of  which  we  will  give  a  few  specimens.  They 
show  us  what  was  the  spirit,  and  what  the  modus  operandi 
of  Calvinism  at  its  birth.  "  They  punished  with  impris- 
onment the  lady  who  arranged  her  hair  with  too  much 
coquetry  (the  ministers  ivere  to  judge),  and  even  her 
chambermaid  who  assisted  at  her  toilet ;  the  merchant 
who  played  at  cards,  the  peasant  who  spoke  too  harshly 
to  his  beast,  and  the  citizen  who  had  not  extinguished  his 
lamp  at  the  hour  appointed  by  law."*  **  Men  were  for- 
bidden to  dance  with  women,  or  to  wear  figured  hose,  or 
flowered  breeches."!  "  Three  tanners  were  put  in  prison 
for  three  days,  on  bread  and  water,  for  having  eaten  at 
breakfast  three  dozen  pieces  of  pastry,  which  was  great 
dissoluteness."^  *'  They  forbade  any  one  to  have  a  cross, 
or  any  other  badge  of  popery."  "A  merchant  who  sold 
wafers  marked  with  a  cross  was  fined  sixty  sols,  and  his 
wafers  were  cast  into  the  fire  as  scandalous."§ 

Wo  to  him  who  did  not  uncover  at  the  approach  of 
Calvin  ;  he  was  fined.  Wo  to  him  that  gave  him  a  flat 
contradiction  ;  he  was  brought  before  the  consistory,  and 

*  Audin,  vol.  ii,  p.  12. 

t  libid.  p.  1.38,  from  Register  of  Geneva,  1522,  July  14. 

X  Ibid.  Register,  13th  February,  1558.  §  Ibid.  p.  ir»» 


510  D- AUBIGNE  S    HISTORY    REVIEWED. 

Tnenaced  with  excommunication.*  Wo  to  the  girl  that 
presented  herself  to  be  married  with  a  bunch  of  flowers  in 
her  bonnet,  if  her  chastity  was  suspected  b_y  the  consist- 
ory. Wo  to  him  who  danced  on  the  day  of  his  marriage : 
he  was  imprisoned  for  three  days.  Wo  to  the  young 
married  lady  if  she  wore  shoes  according  to  the  present 
fashion  of  Berne  :   she  was  publicly  reprimanded."! 

The  Calvinistic  legislation  regulated  even  the  num- 
ber of  plates  which  should  appear  on  the  table  of  the  rich, 
and  the  quality  of  butter  to  be  sold,  &c."j:  *'  All  were 
ordered  to  eat  meat  on  Fridays  and  Saturdays,  under  pen- 
alty of  imprisonment ;  and  the  night-watch  was  ordered 
to  proclaim  that  no  one  should  make  slashed  doublets  or 
hose,  or  wear  them  hereafter  under  penalty  of  sixty  sols."§ 
**  Chapuis  was  put  in  prison  for  having  persisted  in  call- 
ing his  child  Claude,  although  the  minister  wished  to  call 
him  Abraham.  He  had  said  that,  rather  than  do  this,  he 
would  keep  his  child  fifteen  years  without  baptism. ||  He 
was  kept  in  prison  four  days."  "  One  day  a  relation  pre- 
sented himself  at  the  altar  with  a  young  girl  of  Nantes 
to  be  married.  The  minister,  Abel  Poupin,  asked  him: 
Will  you  be  faithful  to  your  wife  ?  The  bridegroom,  in- 
stead of  answering  yes,  only  inclined  his  head.  Hence 
great  tumult  among  the  assistants.  He  was  sent  to 
prison,  obliged  to  ask  pardon  of  the  young  lady's  uncle, 
and  condemned  to  bread  and  water. "^ 

We  might  multiply  facts  of  the  kind,  to  exhibit  the  na- 
ture of  early  Calvinistic  legislation.  It  was  blue  enough 
in  all  conscience;  and  the  pious  legislators  who  enacted 
the  blue  laws  of  Connecticut  could  at  least  boast  prece- 
dent, if  not  common  sense,  for  their  enactments.  The 
above,  however,  are  but  scraps  of  Genevese  legislation 
under  Calvin's  theocracy.     To  understand  the  spirit  of 

*  Ibid.  Register,  31st  Dec.  1543. 

t  Reglement  de  Police,  29th  July,  1549,  ibid.  J  Ibid. 

§  Register,  16th  April,  1.543  ;  Audin,  vol.  ii,  p.  185. 

II  Register,  1546  ;  ibid.  IT  Ibid.  p.  1S6. 


GENEVAN  REFORM ITS  INFLUENCE  ON  LIBERTY.       Sll 

his  laws,  in  all  its  length  and  breadth,  you  must  read  the 
criminal  prosecutions  of  Berthellier,  Gruet,  Gentilis,  Bol- 
sec,  Ami  Perrin,  Francis  Favre,  and  Servetus,  copious 
portions  of  which  are  spread  before  us  by  M.  Audin  from 
the  original  documents.  We  may  have  occasion  to  refer 
to  some  of  these  a  little  later. 

To  ferret  out  and  punish  the  infractors  of  these  laws, 
Calvin  established  a  regular  system  of  espionage.  **  He 
kept  in  his  pay  secret  informers,  in  order  to  learn  the  se- 
crets of  families."*  "Besides  these,  there  was  another 
band  of  spies,  the  elders,  recognized  by  law,  who  could 
penetrate  once  a  week  into  the  most  mysterious  sanctu- 
ary of  domestic  life,  in  order  to  report  to  the  consistory 
what  they  might  see  and  hear."t  *'  In  one  single  year 
the  consistory  instituted  more  than  two  hundred  prosecu- 
tions for  blasphemy,  calumny,  obscene  language,  lechery, 
insults  to  Calvin,  offences  against  the  ministers,  and  at- 
tempts against  the  French  exiles. "J  The  liberties  of  the 
city  were  crushed,  and  every  one  trembled  for  his  life  ! 
The  spies  whom  Calvin  employed  were  chiefly  from 
among  the  most  degraded  of  the  French  refugees ;  and 
this  odious  practice  was  carried  to  such  length  that  the 
citizens  trembled  at  the  approach  of  one  of  these  sinister 
individuals. 

A  curious  instance  of  the  7nodus  operandi  of  these  mis- 
creants is  found  from  the  Register§  of  Geneva.  "  Master 
Raymond,  a  spy,  was  passing  by  the  bridge,  when  he 
heard  a  voice  saying  '  go  to  the  devil  P  "  *'  Who  is  that," 
asked  Raymond  of  Dominie  Clement,  who  was  present. 
Dominie  answered,  *'  tis  a  girl  who  is  wishing  the  '  Renard,' 
or  *  Fox,'  at  the  devil."  Raymond  thought  the  man  meant 
to  insult  him :  *'  You  are  a  fox  yourself,"  says  he  to  Do- 
minie, who  answered,  *•  I  am  as  good  a  man  as  you  are, 
and  have  not  at  least  been  banished  from  my  country." 

*  Audin,  vol.  ii,  149.  t  Ibid.  p.  150. 

I  Ibid.  §  Register,  3  Sep.  1547. 


512  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

Dominie  was  denounced  to  the  consistory,  which  sharply 
reproved  him.  On  his  wishing  to  justify  himself,  Calvin 
silenced  him,  saying,  **  hush,  you  have  blasphemed  against 
God  in  saying  '  I  have  not  been  banished.'  "* 

M.  Audin  furnishes  us  with  a  number  of  such  facts. — 
Every  enemy  of  Calvin  was  closely  watched,  and  could 
scarcely  escape  being  denounced.  Wo  to  him  that  smiled 
while  Calvin  was  preaching,  even  though  he  treated  his 
hearers  as  "  letchers,  blasphemers  and  dogs."  *' Three 
persons  who  had  smiled  at  a  sermon  of  Calvin,  on  seeing 
a  man  fall  from  his  chair  asleep,  were  denounced,  con- 
demned to  three  daysof  imprisonment  on  bread  and  water, 
and  to  beg  pardon. "t  These  spies  laid  snares  for  the  sim- 
ple. They  asked  a  Norman  who  was  going  to  Montpellier, 
whether  he  intended  to  change  his  religion."  The  Nor- 
man replied, — "  I  dont  think  the  church  is  so  narrowly 
bounded,  as  to  hang  from  the  girdle  of  M.  Calvin,"  He 
was  denounced  and  banished  !  J 

Talk  of  the  Spanish  Inquisition  after  this !  And  yet 
these  are  not  the  darkest  shades  of  the  picture.  Far  from 
it.  They  are  mere  bagatelles,  compared  to  the  horrible 
facts  developed  in  the  criminal  prosecutions  alluded  to 
above.  Whoever  opposed  Calvin,  in  religion  or  politics, 
was  hunted  down  and  his  blood  sought  at  his  instigation. 
He  never  forgave  a  personal  injury.  In  regard  to  his  ene- 
mies, he  was  as  watchful  as  a  tiger  preparing  to  pounce  on 
its  prey — and  as  treacherous!  This  is  strong  language; 
but  it  is  more  than  justified  by  the  official  records  of  Ge- 
neva. We  will  present  a  few  of  the  most  striking  facts, 
regretting  that  the  limits  of  one  chapter  will  not  allow  of 
more  details. 

How  sanguinary  is  the  spirit  breathed  in  this  extract  of 
his  letter  to  the  Marquis  de  Pouet:  "Do  not  hesitate  to 
rid  the  country  of  those  fanatical  fellows,  (faquins)  who 
in  their  conversation  seek  to  excite  the  people  against  us, 

*  See  Audin,  vol.  2,  p.  167.         \  Audin  2,  171.         %  Ibid.  2,  179. 


GENEVAN  REFORM ITS  INFLUENCE  ON  LIBERTY.       513 

who  blacken  our  conduct,  and  would  fain  make  our  belief 
pass  as  a  revery :  such  monsters  ought  to  be  strangled,  as  I 
did,  171  the  execution  0/ Michael  Servetus,  the  Spaniard.^^* 
His  vindictive  conduct  towards  Pierre  Ameaux,  a  member 
of  the  Genevan  Council  of  twenty-five,  is  a  fit  commen- 
tary on  this  sentiment.  At  a  sujDper,  this  man,  inflamed 
with  wine,  had  said  some  hard  things  of  Calvin.  At  his 
table  another  man,  Henry  de  la  Mar,  had  also  said,  amidst 
the  general  applause  of  the  guests :  "  that  Calvin  was  a 
spiteful  and  vindictive  man,  who  never  pardoned  any  one, 
against  vjhom  he  had  a  grudge.'^'' — The  next  morning, 
Ameaux  was  cited  before  the  Council,  where  he  excused 
himself  on  the  ground  that  he  was  excited  with  wine. 
The  Council  fined  him  thirty  thalers — a  large  sum  at  that 
time.  "  On  hearing  of  this  sentence,  Calvin  arose,  donned 
his  doctor's  dress,  and  escorted  by  the  ministers  and  el- 
ders, penetrated  into  the  hall  of  the  Council,  demanded 
justice  in  the  name  of  that  God  whom  Pierre  Ameaux  had 
outraged,  in  the  name  of  the  morals  he  had  sullied,  and  of 
the  laws  he  had  violated  ;  and  declared  that  he  would  quit 
Geneva,  if  the  man  were  not  compelled  to  make  the  amende 
honoralle — a  public  apology,  bareheaded,  at  the  city  Ho- 
tel," and  in  two  other  public  places !  The  Council  yielded  ; 
and  "  the  next  day.  Ameaux,  half  naked,  with  a  torch  in 
his  hand,  accused  himself  in  a  loud  voice  of  having  know- 
ingly and  wickedly  offended  God,  and  begged  pardon  of 
his  fellovv-citizens."t  What  is  to  be  thought  of  a  man, 
who  could  thus  crush  a  penitent  and  stricken  enemy  !  Had 
he  the  spirit  of  that  God  who  '*  would  not  break  the 
bruised  reed  ?" 

Henry  !a  Mar,  the  other  culprit,  did  not  escape.  He 
was  dogged  by  Texier,  one  of  Calvin's  spies,  who  extracted 
from  his  lips  under  an  oath  of  secrecy,  some  words  disre- 
spectful to  his  master.     Texier  came  running  to  Calvin 

*  Ibid.  p.  172. 
t  See  the  whole  account,  from  original  documents,  in  Audin,  vol.  ii, 
p.  ISl,  seq.,  where  also  a  number  of  similar  facts  are  recounted. 
27 


314  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

with  the  news,  saying  that  he  did  not  think  himself  bound 
by  his  oath,  when  the  public  good  required  the  disclosure. 
"Calvin  accused  La  Mar,  caused  him  to  lose  his  situa- 
tion, and  had  him  condemned  to  prison  for  three  days. 
The  judges  assigned  as  their  reason,  *'  that  he  had  blamed 
M.  Calvin  !"* 

Of  a  similar  character  was  the  prosecution,  at  the  in- 
stance of  Calvin,  of  Francis  Favre,  a  veteran  soldier  of 
the  republic  and  a  counsellor  of  the  city.  He  had  been 
at  a  wedding  where  they  had  danced  all  the  evening,  and 
where  he  was  accused  by  one  of  Calvin's  spies  of  having 
used  seditious  language.  Among  the  ten  specifications 
against  him,  were  several  things  he  had  said  against  Cal- 
vin ;  and  the  last  and  most  grievous  was,  that  he  had,  on 
being  conducted  to  prison,  cried  out — "Lilerty!  Liberty  11 
I  would  give  a  thousand  dollars  to  have  a  General  Coun- 
cil 1"  (of  the  Burgomasters.)  He  v/as  sentenced  to  beg 
pardon  publicly.  The  veteran  refused;  he  was  sent  to 
prison  for  three  weeks,  and  was  then  liberated  only  at  the 
instance  of  a  deputation  from  Berne  !t 

Calvin  also  sought  the  life  of  Ami  Perrin,  the  captain 
general  of  Geneva.  Perrin's  wife  had  been  guilty  of 
dancing  on  the  territory  of  Berne.  Calvin  sought  to  en- 
trap Perrin  by  means  of  M egret,  one  of  his  hired  spies. 
This  miscreant  denounced  Perrin  before  the  council ;  and 
he  was  in  consequence  thrown  into  prison — Calvin  thirsted 
for  his  blood.  But  the  people  loved  Perrin.  Tlie  council 
of  the  two  hundred  assembled  to  try  him  for  his  life.  A 
reaction  took  place — Perrin  was  about  to  be  liberated,  and 
Megret  was  openly  denounced  !  At  this  juncture,  Calvin 
entered  the  council  hall — the  people  received  him  with 
cries  of  "  death  to  Calvin  !"  Calvin  waved  his  hand,  ad- 
dressed them,  calmed  their  fury;  but  barely  succeeded  by 
his  eloquence  in  saving  his  own  life  !J 

*  Ibid.  p.  184.  t  Ibid.  p.  189,  seq. 

X  Ibid.  p.  196,  seq.  By  his  influence,  Calvin  however  succeeded  in 
having  Perrin  afterwards  tried,  when,  tliough  his  life  was  spared,  he 
was  deprived  of  t]ae  place  of  captain-general ;  ibid.  p.  197,  seq. 


GENEVAN  REFORM ITS  INFLUENCE  ON  LIBERTY.  Sl5 

In  reading  these  details,  we  are  forcibly  reminded  of 
Marat  and  Robespierre,  haranguing  the  Jacobin  clubs  du- 
ring '*  the  reign  of  terror."  In  fact,  Calvin's  reign  in 
Geneva,  was  truly  a  reign  of  terror;  and  if  during  it,  as 
much  blood  did  not  flow  as  during  the  French  Revolution, 
it  was  not  surely  kis  fault!  He  combined  the  cruelty  of 
Danton  and  Robespierre,  with  the  eloquence  of  Marat  and 
Mirabeau,  though  he  was  much  cooler,  and  therefore  more 
successful  than  any  of  them. 

Who  will  not  detest  the  cold-blooded  cruelty  with  which 
he  hunted  down  and  compassed  the  death  of  poor  Gruet,  the 
poet?*  He  was  accused  of  having  affixed  a  placard  on 
Calvin's  pulpit  at  St.  Peter's  church,  in  which  the  refor- 
mer was  severely  handled.  He  was  apprehended  and  his 
papers  were  seized.  Among  these,  consisting  of  nothing 
but  loose  sheets,  v/ere  found  some  scraps  of  poetry  and 
other  fugitive  pieces,  which  were  tortured  into  heresy 
and  treason.  He  was  plied  with  the  torture  by  Calvin's 
creature,  Colladon,  every  day  for  a  whole  month.  They 
wished  him  to  implicate  Favre  or  Perriu ;  but  though  he 
cried  out  in  agony  of  torture  :  *'  finish  me,  I  beseech  you 
— I  am  dying;"  he  remained  fiiin,  and  would  not  accuse 
them.  The  council  pronounced  sentence  of  death  on  him. 
Among  the  charges  against  him,  the  principal  were  :  **  that 
he  had  endeavored  to  ruin  the  authority  of  the  consistory 
— that  he  had  menaced  the  ministers,  and  spoken  ill  of 
Calvin — aud  that  he  had  conspired  with  tlie  king  of  France 
against  the  safety  of  Calvin  and  of  the  state. "t  Gruet 
died  on  the  scaffold,  but  Calvin  was  not  yet  satisfied.  He 
wished  that  his  writings  should  be  condemned,  and  he 
himself  drew  up  a  long  form  of  condemnation  of  them, 
which  was  approved  by  the  council. ±  Calvin  alone  is 
responsible  for  the  blood  of  Gruet;  it  yet  cries  aloud  to 
heaven  against  him ! 

*  He  was  not  poet  enough  to  excite  much  envy,     f  Aud.  p.  200,  seq, 
i  This  document,  found  at  Berne  in  the  handwriting  of  Calvin,  is 
given  in  full  by  M.  Audin,  ibid.  p.  244,  seq. 


316  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

We  might  exhibit  similar  atrocities  in  his  persecution  of 
Bolsec,*  of  Gentilis,  of  Berthillier,t  and  of  others.  But 
we  are  heart-sick  of  these  horrors,  and  must  hasten  on  to 
a  conclusion.  Yet  we  cannot  wholly  pass  over  the  case 
of  Servetus,  to  which  M.  Audin  devotes  two  whole  chap- 
ters ::|:  and  upon  which  he  sheds  much  additional  light.  We 
will  state  only  a  few  prominent  facts  in  this  sad  affair. 
1st.  Servetus  was  burnt  on  the  27th  of  October,  1553  ; 
and  as  early  as  1546,  seven  years  before,  Calvin  had 
thirsted  fur  his  blood,  as  appears  from  these  words,  taken 
from  his  famous  letter  to  Farel,  written  in  that  year  :  *'  If 
he  (Servetus)  come  here  {io  Geneva),  and  my  authority  be 
considered,  I  will  not  permit  him  to  escape  with  his 
life."§  2d.  Pursuing  this  blood-thirsty  purpose,  he  had 
denounced  Servetus  to  the  police  of  Lyons,  where  he  then 
was.  And  when  he  (Servetus)  had  fled  to  Vienne,  he 
very  narrowly  escaped — probably  with  the  connivance  of 
the  Catholic  clergy  of  Vienne — ^from  the  prison  to  which 
he  had  been  consigned,  at  the  instigation  of  officers  sent 
in  ^quest  of  him  in  consequence  of  his  denunciation  at 
Lyons. II  3d.  When  Servetus,  fleeing  from  his  enemies, 
passed  through  Geneva,  Calvin  denounced  him  and  had 
him  arrested,  against  all  the  laws  of  God  and  man.^  For 
Servetus  was  a  stranger,  only  passing  through  Geneva  ;■••* 
and  he  was  not  responsible  to  the  Genevan  tribunals  for 
a  crime  which  he  had  not  committed  within  the  Genevan 
territory  ;  and  this,  even  supposing  heresy  to  be  a  crime 
punishable  by  the  civil  laws,  which  it  is  not. 

4th.  Though  Servetus  was  a  poor  stranger,  and  begged 
for  counsel  to  defend  him,  that  right,  not  denied  to  the 
meanest  culprit,  was  refused  him  at  the  instance  of  Cal- 

*  See  Audin,  vol.  ii,  p.  245,  seq.  t  Ibid.  p.  347,  seq. 

X  Chapters  xii  and  xiii  of  vol.  ii,  p.  258  to  324. 
^  See  the  letter  in  full,  vol.  ii,  314,  seq.  ||  Aud.  vol.  ii,  285,  seq. 

IT  Ibid.  p.  287,  seq. 
**  Bancroft  assigns  this  same  reason  :  "  Servetus  did  but  desiie  leave 
to  continue  Ins  journey."    Hist.  U.  States,  vol.  i,  p.  455. 


GENEVAN  REFORr.I ITS  INFLUENCE  ON   LIBERTY.       517 

vin.*  5th.  After  Servetus  had  lain  in  prison  five  weeks, 
a  victim  of  disease  and  devoured  by  vermin,  he  wrote  to 
the  council,  stating  his  situation,  and  begging  for  a  change 
of  linen.  The  council  wished  to  grant  his  request,  but 
Calvin  opposed  it,  and  succeeded  !  Three  other  letters 
written  during  the  following  week  from  prison,  in  which 
Servetus  begged  for  counsel,  and  asked  that  the  charges 
against  him  should  be  specified  and  made  known  to  him, 
were  answered  by silence.t  6th.  When,  on  the  morn- 
ing of  his  execution,  Servetus  sent  for  Calvin,  and  begged 
his  pardon,  if  he  had  offended  him,  Calvin  answered  him 
with  cold-hearted  crueltj.J  We  have  seen  above  how  he 
insulted  his  tears.  7th.  The  heartless  cruelty  of  the 
minister  Farel,  who  accompanied  Servetus  to  execution, 
is  enough  to  make  one's  blood  run  cold  at  the  bare  read- 
ing of  it.§  8th.  The  year  after  the  execution  of  Servetus, 
in  1554,  Calvin  published  his  famous  work  '•  de  Hereticis 
Puniendis,^''  in  which  he  justified  the  whole  proceeding  by 
the  authority  of  Scripture  !  W^as  this  man  sent  to  reform 
the  church  of  God  ?  He  was  worse  than  the  caliph  of 
Geneva,  as  M.  Audin  calls  him — he  was  a  very  Nero !  - 
Gibbon  has  well  said  of  this  transaction:  **I  am  more 
deeply  scandalized  at  the  single  execution  of  Servetus 
than  at  the  hecatombs  {not  true)  which  have  blazed  at 
auto  dafes  of  Spain  and  Portugal." 

Mr.  Hallam  gives  the  following  account  of  the  burning 
of  Servetus.  "Servetus  having,  in  1553,  publislied  at 
Vienne,  in  Dauphine,  a  new  treatise,  called  Christianismi 
Restitutio,  and  escaping  from  thence,  as  he  vainly  hoped, 
to  the  Protestant  city  of  Geneva,  became  a  victim  to  the 
bigotry  of  the  magistrates,  insiigaied  by  Calvin,  ivho  had 
acquired  an  immense  ascendency  over  that  repid)Uc.''\]  And 
in  a  note^  he  brings  abundant  proof  of  this,  alleging, 
among  other  things,  tlie  famous  letter  of  Calvin  to  Farel, 

*  Audin,  vol.  ii,  p.  297.  f  Ibid.  p.  2.9.0,  seq. 

X  See  the  whole  conversation,  ibid.  p.  305.  §  Ibid.  p.  .304,  seq. 

II  "  Histoiy  of  Liierature,"  vol.  i,  p.  280.  ^  Ibid. 

27* 


S18  d'aubigne'S  history  reviewed. 

"published,"  he  says,  "by  Witenbogart  [a  Protestant)  In 
an  ecclesiastical  history,  written  in  Dutch."  In  the  same 
note  he  says  :  "  Servetus,  in  fact,  was  burned  not  so  much 
for  his  heresies,  as  for  some  personal  offence  he  had  seve- 
ral years  before  given  to  Calvin.  .  .  .  Servetus  had,  in 
some  printed  letters,  charged  Calvin  with  many  errors, 
which  seems  to  have  exasperated  the  great  (!)  reformer'^s 
temper,  so  as  to  make  him  resolve  on  what  he  afterwards 
executed." 

"  The  death  of  Servetus,"  he  continues,  "  has  perhaps 
as  many  circumstances  of  aggravation  as  any  execution 
for  heresy  that  ever  took  place.  One  of  these,  and  among 
the  most  striking,  is  that  he  was  not  the  subject  of  Ge- 
neva, nor  domiciled  in  the  city,  nor  had  the  Chrislianismi 
Restitutio  been  published  there,  but  at  Yienne.  Accord- 
ing to  our  laws,  and  those,  I  believe,  of  most  civilized 
nations,  he  was  not  amenable  to  the  tribunals  of  the  re- 
public."* 

He  concludes  the  entire  account  with  this  sweeping 
accusation  against  all  the  early  reformers  in  regard  to  in- 
tolerance: "Thus,  in  the  second  period  of  the  reforma- 
tion, those  ominous  symptoms  which  had  appeared  in  its 
earliest  stage,  disunion,  virulence,  bigotry,  intolerance, 
far  from  yielding  to  any  benignant  influence,  grew  more 
inveterate  and  incurable. "t 

We  think  that  the  above  facts  make  good  our  assertion, 
that  Calvin  crushed  the  liberties  of  Geneva — political  and 
religious.  The  following  fact  may  serve  to  show  us  how 
sincere  was  his  zeal  for  the  salvation  of  souls.  The 
plague  broke  out  at  Geneva  in  1543.  The  ministers  from 
the  pulpit  recommended  prayer  once  a  week  to  avert  the 
scourge,  and  they  appointed  the  Sunday  week  next  fol- 
lowing as  the  day  for  administering  the  sacrament  of  the 
Lord's  supper  with  the  same  intent  !J  The  plague  con- 
tinued, and  the  ministers  hid  themselves,  though  hun- 

*  Ibid.  t  Ibid.  p.  281.  %  Register,  &c.,  Audin,  ii,  16. 


GENEVAN  REFORM — ITS  INFLUENCE  ON  LIBERTY.        SI  9 

dreds  were  calling  on  them  for  spiritual  succor  in  tlieir 
dying  moments  !  The  hospital  was  crowded  with  the 
dying.  The  council  of  state  called  on  the  ministers  to 
send  one  of  their  Jiumber  to  assist  the  dyin^  at  the  hos- 
pital, from  v/hich  duty,  however,  they  wished  **to  exempt 
M.  Calvin,  because  the  church  had  need  of  him  !"  The 
ministers  met  with  Calvin,  and  agreed  to  decide  by  lot 
who  was  to  go.  One  only,  M.  Geneston,  offered  to  go,  if 
the  lot  fell  on  him  !  The  others  **  confessed  that  God 
had  not  yet  given  them  grace  to  have  the  strength  and 
courage  to  go  to  the  hospital!"  And  "it  was  resolved 
to  pray  to  God  to  give  them  more  courage  for  the  future."* 
The  result  was  that  no  one  went  to  the  hospital,  except 
Chatillon,  a  young  French  poet,  and  another  Frenchman, 
who  fell  a  victim  to  the  disease.  Were  these  men  true 
shepherds,  or  were  they  mercenaries  ?  The  answer  may 
be  found  in  St.  John's  Gospel,  chapter  10. 

Calvin's  morals  have  been  discussed  on  both  sides. 
Beza  and  his  other  friends  have  held  him  up  as  a  model 
of  perfection;  others,  with  Bolsec,  have  represented  him 
as  a  monster  of  iniquity.  The  story  of  his  having  been 
guilty  of  a  crime  of  nameless  turpitude  at  Noyon,  though 
denied  by  his  friends,  yet  rests  upon  very  respectable  au- 
thority. Bolsec,  a  cotemporary  writer,  relates  it  as  cer- 
tain. Before  his  work  appeared,  it  had  been  mentioned 
by  Surius  in  1558,  by  Turbes,  who  lived  in  the  reign  of 
Francis  I,  by  Simon  Fontana  in  1557,  by  Stapleton  in 
1558,  by  LaVacquerie  in  1560-1,  by  De  Mouchi  in  1562, 
by  Du  Preau  in  1567,  and  by  Whitaker  before  1570.t 
M.  Galiffe,  a  Protestant,  who  had  examined  most  tho- 
roughly the  archives  of  Geneva,  uses  this  plain  language  : 
*'  The  history  of  many  of  the  reformer's  colleagues  is 
very  scandalous,  the  details  of  which  cannot  enter  into  a 
work  designed  for  both  sexes.":]:     The  same  writer  tells 

*  Ibid.  Register  of  Council.  f  V^ol.  ii,  p.  256.    Note. 

X  Galiffe,  Notices,  torn,  iii,  p.  381.    Note. 


320  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

us  "  that  most  of  the  facts  related  by  the  physician  of 
Lyons  (Bolsec)  are^  perfectly  true."* 

In  the  introduction  to  the  third  volume  of  his  "iVoifiVes," 
M.  Galiffe  bears  this  testimony  to  the  state  of  morals  at 
Geneva  in  Calvin's  time  :  *'  I  will  show  to  those  who 
imagine  that  the  reformer  had  done  nothing  that  is  not 
good,  our  Registers  covered  with  entries  of  illegitimate 
children — (they  Vv^ere  exposed  at  all  the  corners  of  the 
city  and  country) — -with  prosecutions  hideous  for  their 
obscenity — with  wills  in  which  fathers  and  mothers  accuse 
their  own  children  not  only  of  errors,  but  of  crimes — with 
transactions  before  notaries  public  between  young  girls 
and  their  paramours,  who  gave  them,  in  the  presence  of 
their  relatives,  means  of  supporting  "their  illegitimate  off- 
spring— with  multitudes  of  forced  marriages,  where  the 
delinquents  were  conducted  from  prison  to  the  church — 
with  mothers  who  abandoned  their  infants  at  the  hospital, 
while  they  were  living  in  abundance  with  a  second  hus- 
band— with  whole  bundles  of  processes  between  brothers 
—with  multitudes  (literally  heaps,  tas)  of  secret  denun- 
ciations :  and  all  this  in  the  generation  nourished  by  the 
mystic  manna  of  Calvin  !"t 

Truly,  if  the  "  Registers"  prove  all  this,  we  may  con- 
clude that  Calvin  stamped  his  own  image  upon  his  gene- 
ration— and  especially  his  heartlessness. 

The  accounts  of  the  circumstances  attending  the  last 
sickness  and  death  of  Calvin  are  various.  His  disciple 
Beza,  who  wrote  his  life,  represents  his  death  as  worthy 
of  an  apostle  and  of  a  saint.  Yet  he  himself,  as  we  shall 
see,  furnishes  us  with  some  particulars  which  would  make 
us  doubt  the  truth  of  this  picture.  The  diseases  which 
led  to  his  dissolution  were  many  and  complicated.  In  a 
letter  to  the  physicians  of  Montpelier,  written  a  short 
time  before  his  death,  Calvin  gives  a  full  account  of  the 
maladies  with  which  he  was   tormented.     Among  these, 

*  Ibid.  p.  457,  noU.     Audin,ii,  2C7.         f  P^?*?  15,apud  Aud.  ii,  174. 


GENEVAN  REFORM ITS  INFLUENCE  ON  LIBERTY.       321 

he  mentions  "the  dropsy,  the  stone,  the  gravel,  cholics, 
hemorrhoids,  internal  hemorrhages,  quartan  fever,  cramps, 
spasmodic  contractions  of  the  muscles  from  the  foot  to 
the  knee,  and,  during  the  whole  summer,  a  frightful  neu- 
ralgia or  nervous  affection. "* 

His  malady  increasing,  he  dictated  his  last  will  and 
testament  on  the  26th  of  April,  1564.  The  greater  part 
of  this  curious  instrument  is  devoted  to  a  defence  of  his 
conduct  and  motives  throughout  life  !t  He  ''  protests  that 
he  has  endeavored,  according  to  the  measure  of  grace 
given  to  him,  to  teach  with  purity  the  word  of  God,  as 
well  in  his  sermons  as  in  his  writings,  and  to  expound 
faithfully  the  Holy  Scriptures.  And  that,  in  all  the  dis- 
putes which  he  had  had  with  the  enemies  of  truth,  he  had 
employed  neither  chicanery  nor  sophistry,  but  had  pro- 
ceeded roundly  [rondement)  to  maintain  the  quarrel  of 
God."  In  disposing  of  his  effects,  towards  the  close  of 
his  will,  he  thus  speaks  of  his  nephew:  *' As  to  my 
nephew  David  .  .  because  he  has  been  light  and  volatile, 
I  leave  him  only  twenty-five  crowns  {ecus)  as  a  chastise- 
ment." 

On  the  morning  of  the  2rth  of  May,  at  8  o'clock,  he 
breathed  his  last,  after  having  passed  a  night  of  horrible 
agony.  The  circumstances  of  his  death  and  burial  were 
hidden  and  mysterious.  His  body  was  immediately  cov- 
ered, and  his  funeral  was  hastened  :  it  took  place  at  2 
o'clock  in  the  evening  of  the  same  day.  Beza,J  his  fa- 
vorite disciple,  thus  writes  on  the  subject:  "  There  were 
many  strangers  come  from  a  distance,  who  wished  greatly 
to  see  him,  although  he  was  dead,  and  made  instance  to 
that  effect.  .  .  But,  to  obviate  all  calumnies,  he  was  put 
into  the  coffin  at  8  o'clock  in  the  morning,  and  at  2  o'clock 
in  the  evening  w^as  carried  in  the  ordinary  manner,  as  he 
himself  had   directed,   to   the   common   cemetery,   called 

*  See  his  letter  in  full,  Audin,  vol.  ii,  p.  452,  seq. 
t  It  is  given  in  full  by  Audin,  ibid.  p.  456,  seq.  X  Vie  do  Calvin. 


322  d'aubigne's  history  reviewep. 

*  Plein  Palais,'  without  any  pomp  or  parade,  where  he 
lies  at  the  present  day,  awaiting  the  resurrection."  The 
*'  calumnies"  to  which  Beza  refers  were  probably  the 
public  rumors  spread  through  the  city  regarding  the  man- 
ner of  the  reformer's  death.  *'It  was  said  that  every 
one  had  been  prohibited  from  entering  into  his  chamber, 
because  the  body  of  the  deceased  bore  traces  of  a  desperate 
struggle  with  death,  and  of  a  premature  decomposition, 
in  which  the  eye  would  have  seen  either  visible  signs  of 
the  divine  vengeance,  or  marks  of  a  shameful  disease ; 
and  that  in  consequence  a  black  veil  was  hastily  thrown 
over  the  face  of  the  corpse,  and  that  he  was  interred  be- 
fore the  rumor  of  his  death  had  spread  through  the  city. 
So  fearful  were  his  friends  of  indiscreet  looks  !"* 

The  mystery  was  however  penetrated  by  Haren,  a 
young  student  who  had  visited  Geneva  to  take  lessons 
from  Calvin.  He  penetrated  into  the  chamber  of  the 
dying  man,  and  has  furnished  the  following  evidence  of 
what  he  saw  on  the  occasion.  And  we  beg  our  readers  to 
bear  in  mind  that  he  was  no  enemy,  but  a  partisan  of  Cal- 
vin, and  that  his  testimony  was  wholly  voluntary.  "  Cal- 
vin, ending  his  life  in  despair,  died  of  a  most  shameful  and 
disgusting  disease,  which  God  has  threatened  to  rebellious 
and  accursed  reprobates,  having  been  first  tortured  in  the 
most  excruciating  manner,  and  consumed,  to  which  fact  I 
can  testify  most  certainly,  for  I,  being  present,  saw  with 
these  eyes  his  most  sad  and  tragical  death."  [Exiium  et 
exitium.)\ 

In  thus  presenting  to  our  readers  an  imperfect  sum- 
mary of  facts,  many  of  them  extracted  from  the  public 
and  official  acts  of  the  Genevan  council  and  consistory  in 
the  sixteenth  century,  we  would  not  be  understood  as 
wishing  to  reflect  upon  the  character  or   conduct  of  the 

f  Ibid.  p.  464,  seq. 
t  Johannes  Harennius,  apud  Pctrum  Cutzemnn.     We  have  endeavored 
to  give  above  a  literal  translation  of  his  testimony,  of  which  the  original 
is  in  Latin. 


GENEVAN  REFORM ITS  INFLUENCE  ON  LIBERTY.      323 

present  professors  of  Calvinistic  doctrines,  many  of  whom 
are  men  estimable  for  their  civic  virtues.  It  is  not  our 
fault  that  the  truth  of  history  will  not  warrant  a  better 
character  of  Calvin.  He  was  the  most  subtle,  the  most 
untiring,  and  perhaps  the  most  able  enemy  of  the  Catho- 
lic church.  He  played  a  public  and  conspicuous  part  in 
the  great  reUgioso-jJoIiiico  drama  of  the  sixteenth  centu- 
ry; he  was  the  founder  of  a  sect  more  distinguished  than 
any  other,  perhaps,  for  its  inveterate  opposition  to  Catho- 
licity. Under  these  circumstances,  his  life,  acts,  and 
whole  character,  are  surely  public  property;  and  truth 
and  justice  required  that  they  should  be  given  to  the  pub- 
lic. This  is  precisely  whatM.  Audin,  and  the  Protestant 
historians  of  Geneva,  Galiffe  and  Gaberel,  have  lately 
done;  and,  treading  in  their  footsteps,  we  have  only 
given  a  brief  abstiact  of  the  result  of  their  labors.  If 
even  one  of  those  who  have  been  seduced  from  the  "faith, 
once  delivered  to  the  saints,"  by  the  example  or  teaching 
of  Calvin,  should  be  induced  seriously  to  reconsider  the 
subject,  we  shall  be  fully  recompensed  for  our  labor. 

Among  the  many  proofs  that  the  Catholic  church  is  the 
church  of  Christ,  not  the  least  striking  is  the  fact  vouched 
for  by  authentic  history,  that  all  those  who  have  left  her 
bosom,  and  established  religious  sects,  were  men  of  very 
doubtful  or  of  notoriously  wicked  and  immoral  charac- 
ters. It  is  contrary  to  the  order  of  God's  providence  to 
have  selected  men  of  this  stamp,  as  the  reformers  of  his 
church.  This  would  derogate  from  his  sanctity,  and 
would  reflect  upon  a  religion  which  could  be  established, 
or  reformed,  by  such  instruments.  This  principle  being 
once  admitted,  the  inference  from  it  is  obvious.  When- 
ever a  change  in  religion — call  it  reformation,  or  what 
you  v/ill — has  been  eftected  by  men  not  remarkable  for 
their  sanctity,  the  fact  is  of  itself  strong  presumptive  evi- 
dence that  the  change  is  not  from  God.  If  the  men  who 
effected  it  were  notoriously  flagitious,  as  most  of  the  soi 
disant  reformers  of  the  sixteenth  century  were,  then  the 
presumption  grows  into  a  moral  certainty. 


CHAPTER    XIV. 


INFLUENCE    OF    THE    REFORMATION    ON    LITERATURE. 

"  The  march  of  intellect !  what  know  we  now 
Of  moral,  or  of  thought  and  sentiment, 
Which  was  not  linown  three  hundred  years  ago? 
It  is  an  empty  boast,  a  vain  conceit 
Of  folly,  ignorance,  and  base  intent." 

Light  and  darkness — Boast  of  M.  D'Aubigne — Two  sets  of  barbarians 
— Catholic  and  Protestant  art — The  "  painter  of  the  reformation" — 
Two  witnesses  against  D'Aubigne — Schlegel — Hallam — "  Bellowing 
in  bad  Latin" — Testimony  of  Erasmus — Destruction  of  monaste- 
ries—  Literary  drought — Luther's  plaint  —  Awful  desolation — An 
"iron  padlock"— Early  Protestant  schools — M.  D'Aubigne's  omis- 
sions— Burning  zeal — Light  and  flame — Zeal  for  ignorance — Burning 
of  libraries — Rothman  and  Omar — Disputatious  theology — Its  prac- 
tical results — Morbid  taste — The  Stagirite — Mutual  distrust — Case 
of  Galileo — Liberty  of  the  press — Old  and  new  style — Religious 
wars — Anecdote  of  Reuchlin — Italy  pre-eminent — Plaint  of  Leib- 
nitz— Revival  of  letters — A  shallow  sophism — A  parallel  —  Great 
inventions— Literary  ages — Protestant  testimony — Common  schools. 

It  is  one  of  the  proudest  boasts  of  the  reformation  that 
it  gave  a  powerful  impulse  to  literature  and  the  arts. 
Before  it,  the  world  was  sunk  in  utter  darkness,  religious 
and  literary;  after  it,  all  was  light  and  refinement.  Be- 
fore it,  society  remained  stationary  ;  after  it,  all  was  pro- 
gression and  improvement.  But  for  the  reformation,  we 
would  still  have  been  immersed  in  worse  than  Egyptian 
darkness ;  we  would  have  had  neither  science  nor  litera- 
ture ! 

Such  is  the  proudly  boasting  theory  sustained  by  many 
superficial  admirers  of  the  reformation.  We  are  not  at 
all  surprised  to  hear  M.  D'Aubigne  singing  the  same  old 
song  which  had  been  chaunted  already  usque  ad  nauseajn, 
by  those  of  his  predecessors  among  Protestant  historians. 


INFLUENCE  OF  THE  REFORM  ON  LITERATURE.    S25 

who  had  sought  to  cater  for  vulgar  prejudice.  He  gravely 
asserts  "  that  the  reformation  not  only  communicated  a 
mighty  impulse  to  literature,  but  served  to  elevate  the 
arts,  although  Protestantism  has  often  been  reproached  as 
their  enemy,"*  He  laments  that  *'  many  Protestants 
have  willingly  taken  up  and  borne  this  reproach."!  Af- 
ter devoting  three  pages  to  a  tissue  of  highflown  asser- 
tions and  of  special  pleading  to  prove  the  **  reproach 
unmerited,"  he  winds  up  in  this  triumphant  strain  :  "  Thus 
every  thing  progressed— arts,  literature,  purity  of  worship, 
and  the  minds  of  prince  and  people. "J  If  the  reforma- 
tion caused  "  the  arts  and  literature"  to  progress  no  ffister 
nor  better  than  it  did  "the  purity  of  worship,  and  the 
minds  of  prince  and  people,"  we  greatly  fear,  from  the 
many  stubborn  facts  already  adduced  to  elucidate  the 
character  of  this  latter  progression,  that  the  former  was 
not  rapid,  nor  even  real. 

The  reformation  favorable  to  the  fine  arts  !  As  well 
might  you  assert  that  a  conflagration  is  beneficial  to  a  city 
which  it  consumes,  or  that  the  incursions  of  the  northern 
barbarians,  in  the  fifth  and  sixth  centuries,  were  favora- 
ble to  architecture,  painting,  sculpture,  and  the  other  fine 
arts.  Wherever  the  reformation  appeared,  it  pillaged, 
defaced,  and  often  burnt  churches  and  monasteries;  it 
broke  up  and  destroyed  statues  and  paintings  ;  and  it 
often  burnt  whole  libraries.  Its  ruthless  vandalism  spared 
none  of  the  glories  of  the  old  Catholic  art.  Whatever 
was  connected  with  the  Catholic  worship,  or  could  serve 
as  a  memorial  of  old  Catholic  piety,  was  wantonly  de- 
stroyed. 

The  armies  of  Goths  and  Vandals  who  overran  Italy 
and  sacked  Rome  fourteen  centuries  ago,  did  not  manifest 
a  more  ruthless  and  destructive  spirit  than  did  the  Lu- 
theran army  of  the  constable  Bourbon,  in  their  wanton 
pillage  of  Rome  after  the  battle  of  Pavia  in  1525.     *'  Rome 

♦  Vol.  iii,  p.  190.  t  Ibid.  |  Ibid.  p.  192. 

28 


526  d'attbigne's  history  reviewed. 

had  been  taken  and  pillaged  by  the  constable  Bourbon  : 
his  army,  which  was  composed  in  good  part  of  Lutherans, 
had  filled  the  holy  city  with  abominations.  The  soldiers 
of  this  prince  had  changed  the  basilica  of  St.  Peter  into  a 
stable,  and  given  papal  bulls  as  litter  to  their  horses.  .  ,  . 
They  burned  even  the  grass,  and  sold  the  ears  of  their 
prisoners  for  their  weight  in  gold.  The  eternal  city 
would  have  been  destroyed,  had  not  God  cast  on  it  an 
eye  of  pity.  He  made  use  of  the  pestilence,  which  this 
horde  of  barbarians  had  spread  on  its  journey,  to  banish 
them  from  Italy."* 

Even  the  splendid  creations  of  the  genius  of  a  Raphael, 
and  of  an  Angelo,  were  not  sacred  in  the  eyes  of  this  new 
northern  horde.  True,  all  this  destruction  took  place  in 
time  of  war;  but  its  horrors  had  been  increased  tenfold 
by  the  religious  fanaticism  to  which  the  reformation  had 
given  rise.  We  shall  have  occasion  to  prove,  in  the  se- 
quel, that  similar  enormities  were  perpetrated  in  time  of 
peace,  and  under  the  sole  pretext  of  religious  zeal. 

Thus  the  reformation  destroyed  many  of  the  noblest 
works  of  art  :  what  did  it  build  up  in  their  place?  Did 
it  produce  architects  like  Fontana,  Julio  Romano,  Bra- 
mante,  Michael  Angelo,  and  Bernini  ?  Did  it  rear  edi- 
fices to  compare  with  those  splendid  Gothic  piles  scat- 
tered over  Europe  by  the  genius  of  Catholic  architecture 
in  the  middle  ages  ?  or  any  thing  that  could  vie  with  St. 
Peter's  church  at  Rome  ?  Did  it  substitute  higher  or  no- 
bler melody  for  the  sublime  Catholic  music  which  it  had 
proscribed  ?  Did  it  give  birth  to  painters  and  sculptors 
who  could  vie  v/ith  Leonardo  da  Vinci,  Titian,  the  two 
Caracci,  Domenichino,  Paul  Veronese,  Raphael,  or  An- 
gelo ? 

M.  D'Aubigne  boasts  of  the  pictorial  skill  of  Lucas 
Kranach,  Holbein,  and  Albert  Durer.f     We  do  not  ques- 

*  Aiulin,  Life  of  Luther,  p.  289,  who  quotes  Guicciardini — Sacco  di 
Romay  Cochlaeus,  De  Marillac,  and  Maimboiirg,  1.  i.  t  III,  192. 


INFLUENCE  OF  THE  REFORM  ON  LITERATURE.     SSf 

tion  the  genius  of  the  last  two  :  but  they  learned  their  art 
and  caught  its  inspiration  in  Catholic  times.  Their  pen- 
cils were  only  occasionally  employed  on  Protestant  sub- 
jects. They  were  great  artists  before  the  reformation 
began,  and  they  continued  to  be  pre-eminent  in  their  pro- 
fession in  spite,  rather  than  in  consequence,  of  its  influ- 
ence. As  for  Lucas  Kranach,  whom  our  author  triumph- 
antly styles  **  the  painter  of  the  reformation,"  he  excelled 
chiefly  in  caricatures,  in  painting  pope-asses  and  monk- 
calves,  popes  surrounded  by  a  troop  of  demons,  and  priests 
and  monks  in  all  possible  ridiculous  garbs  and  attitudes. 
He  was  truly  *' the  painter  of  the  reformation,"  one  just 
adapted  to  his  subject;  and  the  reformation  is  heartily 
welcome  to  all  the  credit  it  may  have  derived  from  his 
eminence. 

To  show  what  was  the  influence  of  the  reformation  on 
literature  in  general,  we  will  adduce  the  testimony  of  two 
distinguished  writers  of  the  present  century,  against 
whose  authority  the  flippant  assertions  of  M.  D'Aubigne 
will  not  weigh  a  feather  with  any  enlightened  or  impartial 
man.  Frederick  Von  Schlegel  and  Henry  Hallam  have 
both  investigated  this  subject  thoroughly,  and  have  given 
to  the  world  the  result  of  their  inquiry.  The  former 
may  be  styled  the  giant  of  modern  literature:  he  has 
given  a  powerful  impulse  to  learning  and  to  Christian 
philosophy  in  Germany,  and  throughout  the  world.  A 
German  himself,  and  proud  of  his  national  literature,  he 
has  examined  the  subject  of  which  we  are  treating  in  all 
its  bearings.  Though  his  great  mind  had  escaped  from 
the  vagaries  and  endless  variations  of  Protestantism  in 
which  he  was  raised,  and  sought  repose  in  the  bosom  of 
Catholic  unity,  yet  it  was  as  free  from  undue  prejudice 
as  it  was  indefatigable  in  the  inquiry  after  truth.  We 
have  seen  already  how  greatly  he  admired  the  genius  of 
Luther,  in  whose  mind,  however,  he  detected  a  tincture  of 
insanity.  In  his  writings,  he  speaks  of  the  reformation 
always  with  calmness  and  dignified  impartiality ;  some- 


328  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

times  even  with  praise  of  the  good  it  may  at  least  inci- 
dentally have  occasioned. 

Hallam  is  a  Protestant,  who,  though  generally  impar- 
tial and  accurate  in  his  statements,  is  still  sometimes  be- 
trayed into  error  by  his  ill  concealed  hostility  to  the 
Catholic  church.  He  has  just  published  a  History  of  Lit- 
erature during  the  sixteenth  century,  and  the  two  imme- 
diately preceding  and  following.  The  plan  of  this  work 
necessarily  called  for  a  thorough  investigation  of  the  sub- 
ject of  our  present  chapter  ;  and  he  has  given  his  opinion 
of  the  literary  influence  of  the  reformation  with  clearness 
and  force.  We  make  these  remarks  to  show  that  both 
the  witnesses  whom  w^e  are  about  to  bring  up  against  M. 
H'Aubigne's  theory,  are  weighty  and  unexceptionable. 

Schlegel  very  properly  designates  the  epoch  of  the 
reformation  as  the  barbaro-polemic.  *'  A  third  epoch  now 
arose,  which,  from  the  general  spirit  of  the  age,  and  the 
tone  of  the  writino;s  which  exerted  a  commandino-  influ- 
ence  over  the  times,  cannot  be  otherwise  designated  than 
as  the  era  of  harhaj'o -polemic  eloquence.  This  rude  po- 
lemic spirit — which  had  its  origin  in  the  reformation,  and 
in  that  concussion  of  faith,  and,  consequently,  of  all 
thought  and  of  all  science,  which  Protestantism  occa- 
sioned— continued,  down  to  the  end  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  to  prevail  in  the  controversial  writings  and  philo- 
sophic speculations  both  of  Germany  and  England.  This 
spirit  was  not  incompatible  with  a  sort  of  deep  mystical 
sensibility,  and  a  certain  original  boldness  of  thought  and 
expression,  such,  for  instance,  as  Luther's  writings  dis- 
play ;  yet  we  cannot  at  all  regard  in  a  favorable  light  the 
general  spirit  of  that  intellectual  epoch,  or  consider  it  as 
one  by  any  means  adapted  to  the  intellectual  exigencies 
of  that  age."* 

He  concludes  his  lecture  on  this  epoch  in  the  following 
words  of  just  indignation:  ''When  we  hear  the  middle 

*  "  Philosophy  of  History,"  vol.  ii,  p.  210,  211,  edit,  xit  supra. 


INFLUENCE  OF  THE  REFORM  ON  LITERATURE.     Si29 

age  called  barbarous,  we  should  remember  that  that  epi- 
thet applies  with  far  greater  force  to  the  truly  barbarous 
era  of  the  reformation,  and  of  the  religious  M'ars  which 
that  event  produced,  and  which  continued  down  to  the 
period  when  a  sort  of  moral  and  political  pacification  was 
re-established,  apparently  at  least,  in  society  and  the 
human  mind.''* 

Hallam  gives  his  opinion  in  still  more  explicit  language. 
He  says  :  "Nor,  again,  is  there  any  foundation  for  ima- 
gining that  Luther  was  concerned  for  the  interests  of  lit- 
erature. None  had  he  himself,  save  theological ;  nor  are 
there,  as  I  apprehend, .many  allusions  to  profane  studies, 
or  any  proof  of  his  regard  to  them,  in  all  his  works.  On 
the  contrary,  it  is  probable  that  both  the  principles  of  this 
great  (!)  founder  of  the  reformation,  and  the  natural  tend- 
ency of  so  intense  an  application  to  theological  contro- 
versy, checked  for  a  time  the  progress  of  philological  and 
philosophical  literature  on  this  side  the  Alps."t 

A  little  further  on,  he  thus  speaks  on  the  general  lite- 
rary influence  of  the  reformation  :  '*  The  first  effects  of 
the  great  religious  schism  in  Germany  were  not  favorable 
to  classical  literature.  An  all-absorbing  subject  left  nei- 
ther relish  nor  leisure  for  human  studies.  Those  who  had 
made  the  greatest  advances  in  learning  were  themselves 
generally  involved  in  theological  controversy,  and,  in 
some  countries,  had  to  encounter  either  personal  suffering 
on  account  of  their  opinions,  or,  at  least,  the  jealousy  of 
a  church  (Protestant  ?)  that  hated  the  advance  of  know- 
ledge. The  knowledge  of  Greek  and  Hebrew  was  always 
liable  to  the  suspicion  of  heterodoxy.  In  Italy,  where 
classical  literature  was  the  chief  object,  this  dread  of 
learnino;  could  not  subsist.  But  few  learned  much  of 
Greek  in  these  parts  of  Europe  without  some  reference  to 

*  Ibid.  p.  216. 
t  "Introduction  to  the  Literature  of  Europe  in  the  fifteenth,  six- 
teenth, and  seventeenth  centuries,"  in  2  vols.  8vo,  vol.  i,  p.  lf!5,  edit. 
Harper  &  Brother?,  N.  York,  1841. 
28* 


330  d'aubigne's  history  rkviewfd. 

theology,  especially  to  the  grarnmatical  interpretation  of 
the  Scriptures.  In  those  parts  which  embraced  the  re- 
formation, a  still  more  threatening  danger  arose  from  the 
intemperate  fanaticism  of  its  adherents.  Men  who  inter- 
preted the  Scripture  by  the  Spirit  could  not  think  human 
learning  of  much  value  in  religion  ;  and  they  were  as  lit- 
tle likely  to  perceive  any  other  advantage  it  could  pos- 
sess. There  seemed,  indeed,  a  considerable  peril  that, 
through  the  authority  of  Carlostadt,  or  even  of  Luther, 
the  lessons  of  Crocus  and  Mossellanus  would  be  totally 
forgotten.  And  this  would  very  probably  have  been  the 
case  if  one  man,  Melancthon,  had  not  perceived  the  ne- 
cessity of  preserving  human  learning  as  a  bulwark  to  the- 
ology itself,  against  the  wild  waves  of  enthusiasm.''* 

In  another  place  he  asserts  that  "the  most  striking 
effect  of  the  first  preaching  of  the  reformation  was  that  it 
appealed  to  the  ignorant."t  He  gives  the  following  char- 
acter of  Luther's  writings  :  "But  from  the  Latin  works 
of  Luther  few  readers,  I  believe,  will  rise  without  disap- 
pointment. Their  intemperance,  their  coarseness,  their 
inelegance,  their  scurrility,  their  wild  -paradoxes,  that 
menace  the  foundations  of  religious  morality,  are  not 
compensated,  so  far  at  least  as  my  slight  acquaintance 
with  them  extends,  by  much  strength  or  acuteness,  and 
still  less  by  any  impressive  eloquence.  Some  of  his 
treatises,  and  we  may  instance  his  reply  to  Henry  VIII, 
or  the  book  against  *  the  falsely  named  order  of  bishops,' 
can  be  described  as  little  else  than  bellowing  in  bad  Latin. 
Neither  of  these  books  displays,  so  far  as  I  can  judge, 
any  striking  ability." 

"  It  is  not  to  be  imagined,"  he  continues,  "that  a  man 
of  his  vivid  parts  fails  to  perceive  an  advantage  in  that 
close  grappling,  sentence  by  sentence,  with  an  adversary, 
which  fills  most  of  his  controversial  writings  :  and  in 
scornful  irony  he  had  no  superior.     His  epistle  to  Eras- 

*  Ibid.  p.  181,  §  19.  t  Ibid.  p.  192,  §  12. 


INFLUENCE  OF  TUB  REFORM  ON  LITERATURE.  331 

mus,  prefixed  to  his  treatise  Be  servo  arbitrio,  is  bitterly 
insolent  in  terms  as  civil  as  he  could  use.  But  the  clear 
and  comprehensive  line  of  argument  which  enlightens  the 
reader's  understanding  and  resolves  his  difficulties,  is 
always  wanting.  An  unbounded  dogmatism,  resting  on 
the  infallibility,  practically  speaking,  of  his  own  judg- 
ment, pervades  his  writings  ;  no  indulgence  is  shown,  no 
pause  allowed  to  the  hesitating ;  whatever  stands  in  the 
way  of  his  decisions — the  fathers  of  the  church,  the 
schoolmen  and  philosophers,  the  canons  and  councils — 
is  swept  away  in  a  current  of  impetuous  declamation  : 
and,  as  every  thing  contained  in  Scripture,  according  to 
Luther,  is  easy  to  be  understood,  and  can  only  be  under- 
stood in  his  sense,  every  deviation  from  his  doctrine  in- 
curs the  anathema  of  perdition.  Jerome,  he  says,  far 
from  being  rightly  canonized,  must,  but  for  some  special 
grace,  have  been  damned  for  his  interpretation  of  St. 
Paul's  Epistle  to  the  Romans.  That  the  Zuinglians,  as 
well  as  the  whole  church  of  Rome,  and  the  Anabaptists, 
were  shut  out  by  their  tenets  from  salvation,  is  more  than 
insinuated  in  numerous  passages  of  Luther's  writings. 
Yet  he  had  passed  himself  through  several  changes  of 
opinion.  In  1518,  he  rejected  auricular  confession;  in 
1520,  it  was  both  useful  and  necessary;  not  long  after- 
wards, it  was  again  laid  aside.  I  have  found  it  impossi- 
ble to  understand  or  to  reconcile  his  tenets  concerning 
faith  and  works,  &c."* 

We  might  rest  the  whole  case  on  the  authority  of  the 
two  learned  witnesses  just  named  :  but  we  will  proceed 
to  show  that  their  opinion  is  correct,  because  founded  on 
the  facts  of  history,  and  on  the  testimony  of  writers  co- 
temporary  with  the  reformation  itself.  Erasmus  was  the 
most  distinguished  literary  character  of  Germany  in  the 
sixteenth  century.  He  was  an  eye-witness  of  the  earlier 
scenes  in  the  great  drama  of  the  reformation.     He  will 

*  Ibid.  p.  197,  198,  §  26. 


S32  d'aubigne's  history  revie^ved. 

scarcely  be  suspected,  when  it  Is  known  that  he  was  the 
ifitimate  friend  and  correspondent  of  Melancthon  and  of 
other  leading  reformers,  to  whose  party  he  was  charged 
with  leaning.  He  was  certainly  a  competent  judge  of  the 
literary  influence  of  the  reformation,  and  he  was  not  dis- 
posed to  undervalue  that  influence,  even  after  his  rupture 
with  Luther. 

The  reformation  had  been  enlightening  the  world  for 
about  ten  years,  when  Erasmus  wrote  :  "  Wherever  Lu- 
theranism  reigns,  there  literature  utterly  perishes."*  In 
the  same  year,  1528,  he  employed  the  following  language 
in  one  of  his  letters :  **  1  dislike  these  gospellers  on  many 
accounts,  but  chiefly  because,  through  their  agency,  lite- 
rature every  where  languishes,  disappears,  lies  drooping, 
and  perishes  :  and  yet,  without  learning,  what  is  a  man's 
life  ?  They  love  good  cheer  and  a  wife;  for  other  things 
they  care  not  a  straw."t  In  a  letter  to  Melancthon,  he 
states  that  **at  Strasburg  the  Protestant  party  had  pub- 
licly taught,  in  1524,  that  it  was  not  right  to  cultivate 
any  science,  and  that  no  language  should  be  studied  ex- 
cept the  Hebrew. '-J 

These  grave  charges  of  Erasmus  were  never  answered, 
because  they  were,  it  would  seem,  too  clearly  founded  in 
truth  to  admit  of  a  reply.  Had  not  Luther  himself,  the 
founder  of  the  reformation,  in  his  appeal  to  the  German 
nobility,  as  early  as  1520,  openly  taught  that  the  works 
of  Plato,  Cicero,  Aristotle,  and  of  all  the  ancients,  should 
be  burnt,  and  that  the  time  which  was  not  devoted  to  the 
study  of  the  Scriptures  should  be  employed  in  manual 
labor  ?§     And  we  shall  soon  see  that  many  of  Luther's 

*  "  Ubicumque  reejnat  Lutheranismus,  ibi  literarum  est  interitus.' 
Epist.  rnvi,  anno  1528.     Apud  Hallam  ut  sup.  vol.  i,  p.  165. 

f  «  Evangelicos  istos,  cum  raultis  aliis,  turn  hoc  nomine  praecipue 
odi,  quod  per  eos  uhique  languent,  fugiunt,  jacent,  intereunt  bona  lit- 
erae,  sine  quibus  quid  est  hominum  vita  ?  Amant  viaticum  et  uxorem  ; 
csetera  pili  non  faciunt."  Epis.  dccccxlvi,  eod.  anno.  Apud  Hallam, 
i,  165.  t  Epist.  714  ad  Melancthoncm. 

§  Epist.  "  ad  nobiles  Germanicsc,""  anno  1520.     See  Kobelot,  p.  358. 


INFLUENCE  OF  THE  REFORM  ON  LITERATURE.    333 

disciples  took  him  at  his  word,  and  that  tlie  early  history 
of  the  reformation  more  than  justifies  the  accusations  of 
Erasmus. 

One  of  the  first  effects  of  the  reformation  in  Germany 
was  the  secularization  and  destruction  of  the  monasteries, 
and  the  expulsion  of  the  bishops  from  their  sees.  This 
measure  of  violence  was  most  disastrous  to  literature. 
In  Catholic  times  there  were  flourishing  schools  estab- 
lished in  all  the  principal  monasteries,  as  well  as  near  all 
the  Cathedral  and  many  of  the  parochial  churches.  Lite- 
rature had  been  ever  cultivated  under  the  shadow  of  the 
Catholic  church.  Popes  and  councils,  almost  without 
number,  had,  during  the  middle  ages,  enforced  the  obli- 
gation of  establishing  such  schools  throughout  Christen- 
dom.* In  those  Catholic  institutions,  reared  in  Catholic 
times,  and  by  the  express  injunction  of  the  Catholic 
church,  all  the  distinguished  men  of  Germany  in  the  six- 
teenth century  had  been  educated:  Reuchlin,  Erasmus, 
Luther,  Melancthon,  (Ecolampadius,  Bucer,  Eck,  Emser, 
Zuingle,  and  others.  The  reformation  was  thus  indebted 
to  them  for  all  its  leading  champions. 

When  the  monasteries  were  destroyed,  and  the  cathe- 
dral churches  desecrated  and  dismantled,  all  those  flour- 
ishing schools  were  abolished  :  and  the  funds  for  their 
support,  accumulated  by  the  liberality  of  previous  ages, 
were  devoured  by  the  avarice  of  the  reformation  party. 
Hundreds  of  flourishing  colleges  and  academies  of  learn- 
ing were  thus  destroyed  at  one  fell  swoop.  No  wonder 
"literature  drooped  and  perished  wherever  Lutheranism 
reigned  !"  The  fountains  of  Catholic  learning,  ever  open 
and  flowing  by  the  side  of  the  Catholic  church  and  mon- 
astery, having  been  thus  suddenly  dried  up,  all  Germany 
was  made  desolate  with  a  literary  drought  and  sterility. 
Did  the  reformation,  during  the  first  fifty  years  of  its  his- 

*  See  many  proofs  of  this  assertion  accumulated  in  an  article  in  the 
Catholic  Cabinet  of  St.  Louis,  number  for  December,  1843. 


SS4  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

torj,  give  birth  to  even  one  great  literary  character,  if  we 
except  those  who  had  been  reared  under  Catholic  aus- 
pices ?  If  it  did,  we  have  yet  to  learn  his  name  and 
local  habitation.* 

Luther  himself  was  appalled  at  the  extent  of  the  deso- 
lation which  his  ov/n  recklessness  had  caused.  In  his  own 
characteristic  style,  he  poured  forth  a  plaintive  jeremiad, 
mingled  with  bitter  invective  and  reproach  against  the 
leaders  of  the  Protestant  party.  He  lashed  without  mercy 
the  avarice  of  the  princes,  who,  after  having  devoured  the 
substance  of  the  church  and  the  funds  of  the  Catholic 
schools,  closed  their  purses,  and  refused  to  contribute  to 
the  erection  of  establishments  to  replace  those  they  had 
thus  wantonly  annihilated.  "Others,"  he  says,  "close 
their  hands,  and  refuse  to  provide  for  their  pastor  and 
preacher,  and  even  to  support  them.  If  Germany  will 
act  thus,  I  am  ashamed  to  be  one  of  her  children,  and  to 
speak  her  language :  and  if  I  were  permitted  to  impose 
silence  on  my  conscience  (!),  I  would  call  in  the  pope, 
and  assist  him  and  his  minions  to  forge  new  chains  for  us, 
to  subject  us  to  new  tortures,  and  to  injure  us  more  than 
before.'' 

•'  Formerly,"  he  continues,  "  when  we  were  the  slaves 
of  Satan,  when  we  profaned  the  blood  of  Christ,  all 
purses  were  open.  Money  could  be  procured  for  endow- 
ing churches,  for  raising  seminaries,  for  maintaining  su- 
perstitions. Then  nothing  was  spared  to  put  children  in 
the  cloister,  to  send  them  to  school  ;  but  nov/,  when  we 
must  raise  pious  academies,  and  endow  the  church  of  Je- 
sus Christ — endow,  did  I  say,  no,  but  assist  in  preserving 
her,  for  it  is  the  Lord  who  has  founded  this  church,  and 
who  watches  over  her — now  that  we  know  the  divine 
word,  and  that  we  have  learned  to  honor  the  word  of  our 
Martyr-God,  the  purses  are   closed  with   iron  padlocks ! 

*  The  first  that  we  know  of  are  Scaliger,  Casaiibon,  and  Grotius, 
who  flouished  a  hundred  years  after  the  beginning  of  the  reformation, 
the  two  last  of  whom  were  almost  Catholics. 


INFLUENCE  OF  THE  REFORM  ON  LITEllAIURE.  335 

No  one  wishes  to  give  any  thing !  The  children  arc  ne- 
glected, and  no  one  teaches  them  to  serve  God,  to  vene- 
rate the  blood  of  Jesus,  while  Ihey  are  joyfully  immolated 
to  mammon.*  The  blood  of  Jesus  is  trampled  under  foot ! 
And  these  are  Christians!  No  schools!  no  cloisters! 
*  The  grass  is  withered,  and  the  flower  is  fallen,'  (Isaiah.) 
Now-a-days,  when  these  carnal  men  are  secure  from  the 
apprehensions  of  seeing  their  sons  abandon  them,  and  their 
daughters  enter  the  convent,  deprived  of  their  patrimo- 
nies, there  is  no  one  who  cultivates  the  understanding  of 
children  !  '  What  would  they  learn,'  say  they,  *  when 
they  are  to  be  neither  priests  nor  monks  ?'  " 

He  made  a  strong  appeal  to  the  Protestant  princes  of 
Germany  to  induce  them  to  found  schools  and  academies. 
He  told  them  that  it  was  "  their  duty  to  oblige  the  cities 
and  villages  to  raise  schools,  found  masterships,  and  sup- 
port pastors,  as  they  are  bound  to  make  bridges  and  roads, 
and  to  raise  public  edifices.  I  would  wish,  if  possible," 
he  adds,  "to  leave  these  men  without  preacher  and  pas- 
tor, and  let  them  live  like  swine.  There  is  no  longer  any 
fear  or  love  of  God  among  them.  After  throwing  off  the 
yoke  of  the  pope,  every  one  wishes  to  live  as  he  pleases. 
But  it  is  the  dut}^  of  all,  especially  of  the  prince,  to  bring 
up  youth  in  the  fear  and  love  of  the  Lord,  and  to  provide 
them  with  teachers  and  pastors.  If  the  old  people  care 
not  for  these  things,  let  them  go  to  the  d — 1.  But  it  would 
be  a  shame  for  the  government  to  let  the  youth  wallow  in 
the  mire  of  ignorance  and  vice."t 

This  attempt  to  compel  the  people  to  support,  by  heavy 
taxation,  institutions  which  had  been  reared  and  main- 
tained by  Catholic  charity  hitherto,  seems  to  have  been 
little  acceptable  either  to  princes  or  people.  Luther's 
voice,  which  had  been  omnipotent  when  it  preached   up 

*  See  Ad.  Menzel,  (a  Protestant,)  ut  supra,  torn,  i,  p.  231. 
t  Luther,  Werke,  edit.  Altenberg,  torn,  iii,  519.    Reinhardt— 5a;7i/n^ 
liche-  Reformations predigten,  torn.  iii.  p,  445. 


336  d'aubigne's  history  reviewkd. 

destruction  and  spoliation,  now  fell  powerless,  when  it 
was  at  length  raised  to  enforce  the  necessity  of  liberal 
contribution  for  the  rearing  of  institutions  to  replace 
those  which  had  been  wantonly  destroyed.  When  his 
eloquence  filled  men's  pockets,  it  was  eflfectual  for  per- 
suasion :  when  it  was  employed  to  empty  them,  it  was  a 
different  matter  altogether :  the  purses  of  his  hearers 
were  closed  with  "the  iron  padlock"  which  he  himself 
had  constructed  ! 

Few  and  feeble  were  the  efforts  made  by  early  Protest- 
antism to  rear  schools  and  colleges.  Erasmus  bears  evi- 
dence to  their  utter  failure  even  when  they  were  made. 
"  These  gospellers  also  hate  me,"  he  says,  *'  because  I 
said  that  their  gospel  cooled  down  the  love  of  literature. 
In  reply,  they  point  to  NiJremberg,  where  the  professors 
of  polite  literature  are  liberally  rewarded.  Be  it  so : 
but  if  you  ask  the  inhabitants,  they  will  tell  you  that 
these  professors  have  few  scholars,  and  that  the  masters 
are  as  indisposed  to  teach,  as  the  students  to  learn  ;  so 
that  the  scholars,  no  less  than  the  professors,  will  have  to 
be  paid  for  their  attendance.  I  know  not  what  will  result 
from  all  these  city  and  village  schools;  hitherto  I  have  not 
met  with  any  one  who  profited  by  them."* 

It  is  curious  to  observe  how  M.  D'Aubigne  passes  over 
altogether,  or  how  very  delicately  he  alludes  to  these  stub- 
born facts  in  reference  to  the  literary  tendency  of  the 
reformation.  They  did  not  suit  his  taste,  and  did  not  come 
within  the  scope  of  his  history  !  He  speaks  with  great 
praise  of  the  effort  made  by  Luther  to  have  schools  es- 
tablished throughout  Germany  by  law  ;  but  he  carefully 
refrains  from  telling  his  readers  of  the  literary  desolation 
which  Luther  so  strongly  deplored,  though  himself  had 
brought  it  about !  He  omits  entirely,  or  strives  to  palliate 
the  destructive  spirit  of  early  Protestantism,  which,  with 

*  "  In  Pseudo-Evangelicos."  Epist.  xlvii,  lib.  xxxi,  edit.  London, 
Flesher. 


INFLUENCE  OF  THE  REFORM  ON  LITERATURE.     SS7 

more  than  Vandalic  furj,  swept  away  from  the  face  of  the 
earth  schools  and  academies,  and  burnt  monasteries  and 
libraries,  both  public  and  private.  A  volume  might  be 
filled  with  instances  of  this  violence:  we  will  select  a 
few  by  way  of  supplying  somewhat  the  manifold  omissions 
of  our  romantic  historian. 

When  on  his  way  to  the  diet  of  Worms,  in  1521,  Lu- 
ther passed  through  the  town  of  Erfurth,  in  the  Augus- 
tinian  convent  of  which  place  he  had  passed  many  years 
of  his  early  life.  The  people  received  him  with  open 
arms.  He  made  a  most  inflammatory  harangue  in  the 
parish  church,  where  he  was  wont  to  preach  of  old  ;  and 
so  great  was  the  effect  of  his  eloquence,  that  *'  a  few 
weeks  after  his  departure,  the  populace  made  a  furious 
attack  on  the  residence  of  the  canons,  and  destroyed 
every  thing  they  met  with— Z>ooA;5,  images,  paintings,  fur- 
niture, beds,  the  feathers  of  which  fell,  like  a  thick  snow, 
on  the  streets,  and  obscured  for  a  moment  the  brightness 
of  the  day."* 

This  was  but  one  out  of  a  hundred  examples  of  similar 
outrage,  enacted  not  only  under  the  eyes  of  Luther,  but 
often  with  his  connivance  and  consent.  The  work  of 
destruction  went  on,  until  there  was  scarcely  left  in  all 
Protestant  Germany  one  of  the  many  splendid  monu- 
ments reared  by  the  old  Catholic  literature  and  art. 
*'  Those  illuminated  manuscripts — those  ancient  cruci- 
fixes, carved  in  wood  and  ivory — those  episcopal  rings, 
the  gifts  of  popes  and  emperors — those  rich  vestments, 
painted  glass,  gold  and  silver  ciboria — in  a  word,  all  the 
relics  of  the  middle  ages,  which  are  exhibited  in  the  rich 
museums  of  Germany,  were  in  great  part  the  property  of 
the  convents.  To  get  possession  of  them,  the  monks 
were  secularized.  After  three  centuries,  nothing  better 
calculated  to  give  us  an  idea  of  German  art  at  that  period 
has  been  thought  of,  than  to  exhibit  the  remains  of  those 

*  JLutheri  0pp.  torn,  i,  fol.  704,  edit.  Altenb.     Apud  Audin,  p.  158. 
29 


SS8  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

whom  the  reformers  robbed  when  living,  and  calumniated 
when  dead  !"*  And  yet  these  are  but  a  miserable  rem- 
nant of  those  vast  literary  and  artistic  treasures  which 
the  reformation  utterly  destroyed  ! 

In  Switzerland,!  as  elsewhere,  violence  was  the  order 
of  the  day.  The  reformation  triumphed  amidst  the 
ruins  with  which  it  had  strewn  the  earth  !  **  Zuingle  as- 
cended the  pulpit,  and  declaimed  against  images,  which, 
he  said,  were  condemned  by  the  law  of  Moses  and  the 
gospel,  as  this  latter  did  not  revoke  the  command  of  the 
Hebrew  legislator.  Not  only  were  paintings  and  statues 
mutilated  and  destroyed  wherever  the  reformation  gained 
partisans,  but  the  flames  were  fed  by  the  manuscripts  in 
which  generations  of  monks  had,  in  the  solitude  of  their 
cloisters,  endeavored  to  represent,  in  colors  that  time 
could  not  eiface,  the  principal  scenes  of  human  redemp- 
tion. Even  in  private  houses  the  hammer's  stroke  fell  on 
those  painted  windows  which  modern  art  endeavors  un- 
successfully to  revive  ":j:  • 

M.  D'Aubigne  furnishes  us  with  a  curious  instance  of 
this  destructive  fanaticism  at  Zurich.  The  hero  of  the 
story  is  Thomas  Plater,  whom  he  eulogizes  to  the  skies, 
though  he  feebly  disapproves  of  his  conduct  in  the  inci- 
dent in  which  he  was  the  actor.  *'  The  light  of  the  gos- 
pel quickly  found  its  way  to  his  heart  (!).  One  morning, 
when  it  was  very  cold,  and  fuel  was  wanted  to  heat  the 
school -room  stove,  which  it  was  his  office  to  tend,  he  said 
to  himself:  *  Why  need  I  be  at  a  loss  for  wood  when 
there  are  so  many  idols  in  the  church  ?'  The  church  was 
then  empty,  though  Zuingle  was  expected  to  preach  (!), 
and  -the  bells  were  already  ringing  to  summon  the  con- 
gregation. Plater  entered  with  a  noiseless  step,  grappled 
an  image  of  St.  John,  which  stood  over  one  of  the  altars, 
carried  it  off,  and  thrust  it  into  the  stove,  saying,  as  he 

*  Audin,  p.  36-5. 
t  See  the  chapter  on  the  reformation  in  Switzerland. 
X  Idem,  ibid.  p.  204.     See  also  Erasmus,  lib.  xix,  epist.  iv. 


INFLUENCE  OF  TUB  REFORM  ON  LITERATURE.     339 

did  SO,  *  Down  with  thee,  for  in  thou  must  go.*  Cer- 
tainly neither  Mjconius  nor  Zuingle  would  have  ap- 
plauded such  an  act."*"  What!  when  "the  light  of  the 
gospel  had  found  its  way  to  his  heart!"  Who  could 
blame  him  for  following  that  light,  and  even  for  kindling 
it  into  a  flame  ? 

Our  author  also  informs  us  of  the  fanatical  hatred  of 
learning  by  Karlstadt  and  the  prophets  who  headed  the 
revolt  of  the  peasants.  **  But  soon  after  this,  Karlstadt 
went  to  still  greater  lengths;  he  began  to  pour  contempt 
upon  human  learning ;  and  the  students  heard  their  aged 
tutor  advising  them,  from  his  rostrum,  to  return  to  their 
homes,  and  resume  the  spade,  or  follow  the  plough,  and 
cultivate  the  earth,  because  man  was  to  eat  bread  in  the 
sv/eat  of  his  brow  !  George  Mohr,  master  of  the  boys' 
school  at  Wittemberg,  carried  away  by  a  similar  madness, 
called  from  his  window  to  the  burghers  outside  to  come 
and  remove  their  children.  Where  indeed  was  the  use  of 
their  continuing  their  studies,  since  Storck  and  Sti^ibner 
had  never  been  at  the  university,  and  yet  were  prophets  ? 
A  mechanic  was  just  as  well,  nay,  perhaps  better  quali- 
fied than  all  the  divines  in  the  world,  to  preach  the  gos- 
pel !"t 

Who  can  calculate  the  mischief  these  doctrines  did  to 
literature  ?  Who  can  estimate  the  literary  treasures 
which  were  annihilated  in  the  bloody  war  of  the  peasants, 
led  on  by  men  who  openly  avowed  their  hostility  to  all 
human  learning  ?  In  their  ravages  of  Germany,  before 
their  revolt  was  finally  stifled  in  their  own  blood,  they 
had  enacted  scenes  which  would  have  put  to  the  blush 
the  Gothic  armies  of  old  ! 

Another  class  of  fanatics,  the  Anabaptists,  to  whose 
fanaticism  the  principles  of  the  reformation  had  mani- 
festly led,  were  no  less  inimical  to  learning.  Having 
seized  on  the  city  of  Munster,  from  which  they  had  ex- 

*  Vol.  iii,  p.  253.  f  Ibid.  p.  61. 


S40  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

pelled  the  prince  bishop,  thej  issued  an  order  to  devas- 
tate the  churches,  which  was  accordingly  done.  They 
then  went  farther.  In  the  mad  intoxication  of  triumph, 
**a  manifesto,  published  by  Rothmann,  decided  that  as 
there  was  only  one  book  necessary  to  salvation,  the  bible, 
all  others  should  be  burned,  as  useless  or  dan":erous.  Two 
hours  afterwards,  the  library  of  Rudolph  Langius,  consist- 
ing almost  entirely  of  Greek  and  Latin  manuscripts,  perish- 
ed in  the  flames."-^  The  Caliph  Omar,  for  a  similar  reason, 
had  ordered  the  great  library  of  Alexandria  to  be  burned, 
A.  D.  632!  A  fine  example  truly,  faithfully  followed! 

But  it  was  not  merely  by  acts  of  violence  that  the  re- 
formation injured  the  cause  of  literature;  it  brought  into 
action  many  other  influences  highly  prejudicial  to  the  pro- 
gress of  learning.  We  shall  briefly  advert  to  some  of  the 
principal  of  these,  and  will  begin  with  that  already  re- 
ferred to  by  Mr.  Hallam. 

The  reformation  fevered  the  minds  of  men  with  reli- 
gious controversy.  It  drew  off"  the  votaries  of  literature 
from  the  academic  groves  and  the  Pierian  springs,  into 
the  arid  and  thorny  paths  of  disputatious  theology. 
Though  many  of  the  theological  disputants,  who  appeared 
on  the  arena  at  the  period  of  the  reformation,  obtained 
great  credit  for  themselves  and  their  cause  by  their  writ- 
ings, yet  it  is  certain,  that  the  literary  world,  at  least, 
would  have  been  more  benefited,  had  they  devoted  their 
mental  energies  to  the  prosecution  of  scientific  studies. 
There  is  no  doubt,  that  from  this  cause,  the  ranks  of  the 
literati,  both  among  Catholics  and  Protestants,  were 
greatly  thinned;  and  that  in  consequence  the  ardor  for 
literary  pursuits  greatly  cooled.  Had  the  world  continued 
in  unity,  and  had  no  acrimonious  controversies  arisen, 
such  men  as  Luther,  Bucer,  Melancthon,  Eck,  Emser, 
and  Bellarmine,  might  have  contributed  very  greatly  to 
the  progress  of  letters. 

*  See  Hiatoire  des  JnabapHsies,  par  Catron,  Liv.  ii ;  and  A.udin  p.  460. 


INFLUENCE  OF  THE  REFORM  ON  LITERATURE.  S41 

To  show  how  this  cause  practically  operated  to  the 
detriment  of  literature,  we  will  furnish  a  few  facts,  se- 
lected almost  at  random  from  many  of  the  same  kind. 
We  have  seen  how  the  fanaticism  of  the  Anabaptists 
destroyed  letters  and  burnt  an  extensive  library  in  the 
city  of  Munster.  Tt  is  curious  to  trace  the  beginning  of 
this  fanaticism,  and  to  mark  its  influence  on  literature  in 
that  city.  Before  the  appearance  of  Luther,  Munster  en- 
joyed peace  and  tranquillit}^  and  cultivated  learning  with 
great  success.  Shortly  after  the  commencement  of  the 
reformation,  the  scene  changed  altogether. 

*' It  suddenly  became,"  says  M.  Audin,  "a  city  of 
trouble  and  disorder — was  restless  and  uneasy  under  its 
obscurity,  and  aspired  to  be  the  rival  of  Wittemberg.  It 
was  a  rich  and  commercial  city,  and  had  cultivated  litera- 
ture with  success.  Its  University  had  merited  the  atten- 
tion of  the  literary  v/orld.  It  loved  antiquity,  especially 
Greece,  whose  poets  it  published  and  elucidated.  This 
was  the  passion  until  the  disciples  of  Luther  entered  its 
gates,  when  this  demi-classic  city — half  Greek  and  half 
Latin,  by  its  morals  and  instincts — involved  itself  in  the- 
ological disputes,  and  abandoned  the  study  of  Cicero  and 
Homer,  to  become  interpreter  of  the  sacreil  volume.  It 
is  needless  to  say,  that  it  found  in  these  inspired  writings 
many  things  that  our  fathers  never  dreamed  of.  Then  all 
the  classic  divinities  abandoned  Munster,  as  the  swallows 
fly  away  in  winter,  only  that  they -did  not  intend  to  return. 
In  their  place,  an  acrimonious  and  punctilious  theology 
destroyed  the  peace  of  scholars,  masters,  and  people. 
The  revolutionary  progress  of  sectarians  is  always  the 
same."* 

Whoever  will  read  attentively  the  histor}''  of  the  refor- 
mation, will  be  struck  with  the  truth  of  this  last  remark 
of  ]M.  Audin.  In  almost  every  city  of  Germany  where 
the  reformation    made  its  appearance,  it  produced,  to  a 

*  Audin  "  Life  of  Lutlier,*'  p.  453. 
29* 


342 

greater  or  less  extent,  the  same  disastrous  revolution  in 
literary  taste,  which  it  effected  in  Munster. 

Even  Charles  Villers,  one  of  the  most  unscrupulous 
advocates  of  the  reformation,  admits  that  "the  attention 
of  the  literary  world  was  turned  away,  for  more  than  a 
century  (after  the  reformation)  unto  miserable  disputes 
about  dogmas  and  confessions  of  faith.''*  Controversy 
was  not  only  carried  on  between  the  champions  of  Catho- 
licity, and  of  Protestantism,  but  it  raged  violently  in  the 
bosom  of  the  reformation  party.  Men,  who  might  have 
been  of  immense  service  to  the  republic  of  letters,  wasted 
their  energies  in  sectarian  contentions.  For  more  than 
six  years  a  violent  dispute  was  carried  on  between  the 
Lutherans  and  Calvinists  on  the  subject  of  the  Eucharist, 
and  at  the  close  of  it,  they  were  more  widely  separated 
than  ever.  Leibnitz  tells  us,  that  a  single  controversy 
between  two  Protestant  divines  of  Leipsic,  on  the  peremp- 
tory period  of  repentance,  gave  rise  to  more  than  fifty 
treatises  in  Latin  and  German.t 

The  eagerness  for  religious  controversy  among  the 
earlier  Protestants  of  Germany,  forcibly  reminds  us  of 
the  picture  which  St.  Gregory  of  Nyssa  draws  of  a  similar 
rage  of  disputation  on  the  subject  of  the  Trinity,  among 
the  sectarians  of  Constantinople  under  the  Emperor  Theo- 
dosius  the  Great.  "If  you  wish  to  change  a  piece  of 
money,'-  says  he,  **  you  are  first  entertained  with  a  long 
discourse  on  the  difference  of  the  Son  who  is  born,  and  of 
the  Son  who  is  not  born.  If  you  ask  the  price  of  bread, 
you  are  answered,  *  that  the  Father  is  greater,  and  that  the 
Son  is  less  :'  and  if  you  ask,  when  will  the  bath  be  w^arm  ? 
you  are  seriously  assured,  *  that  the  Son  was  created.'  "± 

It  is  a  singular  fact,  that  notwithstanding  the  invectives 
of  Luther  against  the  philosophy  of  Aristotle,  it  was  still 
retained  in  most  of  the  Protestant  Universities  of  Ger- 

*  "Essai  sur  I'Influence,"  &c.  ut  mp.  p.  276. 
t  "  Commercii  Epist.  Leibnitziani,  Selecta  Speciraina — Hanoveroe. 
1805,  Epist.  xcv.  X  Apud  Kobrlot,  p.  390,  .s?/jt).  cii. 


INFLUENCE  OF  THE  REFORM  ON  LITERATURE.  S43 

many,  and  even  made  the  standard  of  disputation.  Me- 
lanctlion  published  commentaries  on  the  writings  of  the 
Stagirite,  and  the  authority  of  the  latter  was  greatly 
respected  by  the  German  Protestant  Universities,  as  late 
as  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century.  Ramus  was  re- 
fused a  professorship  at  Geneva,  because  he  would  not 
adopt  the  philosophy  of  Aristotle,  which  was  still  taught 
in  this  cradle  of  Calvinism.*  While  Protestant  Germany 
was  thus  sternly  upholding  the  system  of  philosophy, 
M'hich  Luther  had  decried  and  endeavored  to  banish  from 
Christendom,  the  new  school  of  the  Platonic  philosopliy 
was  established  in  Italy,  under  the  auspices  of  the  Me- 
dici. All  the  invectives  of  the  reformers  against  the 
subtle  disputations  of  the  schoolmen,  who  had  adopted 
the  Aristotelian  philosophy,  thus  fell  back  on  the  heads  of 
their  own  party. 

The  mutual  distrust  and  suspicion,  which  the  reforma- 
tion sowed  in  the  minds  of  men,  constituted  another  seri- 
ous obstacle  to  the  progress  of  letters.  Competition  and 
emulation  often  elicit  talent  and  promote  improvement; 
but  when  this  feeling  degenerates  into  a  suspicious  jea- 
lousy, and  mutual  hatred,  it  greatly  retards  advancement 
in  learning.  Whatever  new  systems  of  literature  or  of 
philosophy  were  broached  by  one  religious  party,  were 
often  rejected,  through  a  mere  spirit  of  opposition,  by  the 
other.  When  mankind  were  united  in  religious  faith, 
they  worked  in  unison  for  the  promotion  of  learning : 
when  they  were  split  up  into  religious  parties,  they  mutu- 
ally thwarted  and  hindered  each  other.  The  endless  varia- 
tions and  vagaries  of  protestantism,  on  the  one  hand,  led 
to  a  skepticism,  which  sneered  at  every  system  which 
savored  of  antiquity,  no  matter  how  well  grounded;  and 
the  cautious  dread  of  innovation  by  the  Catholic  churcli, 
on  the  other  hand,  caused  her  sometimes  to  view  with 
suspicion,  at  least  for  a  time,  new  systems  of  philosophy 

*  Beza,  Epist.  xxxvi,  p.  202.    Apucl  Robelot,  p.  362. 


344 

which  were  sustained  by  respectable,  if  not  conclusive 
arguments.  An  example  of  the  former  feeling — of  skep- 
ticism— is  given  by  the  French  philosopher  Maupertuis, 
who  tells  us  that  it  required  a  half  century  to  satisfy  the 
learned  as  to  the  truth  of  the  principle  of  attraction, 
which  was  at  first  viewed  as  reviving  a  feature  of  the 
occult  sciences,  so  extensively  cultivated  in  previous  cen- 
turies.* 

A  remarkable  instance  of  the  dread  of  innovation  on 
the  part  of  the  Catholic  church,  is  presented  by  the  well 
known  case  of  Galileo.  The  wanton  abuse  of  the  scrip- 
tures, for  the  support  of  a  thousand  conflicting  opinions, 
by  the  disciples  of  the  reformation,  had  rendered  every 
species  of  innovation,  which  was  attempted  to  be  proved 
by  their  authority,  an  object  of  apprehension  on  the  part 
of  Rome.  It  may  be  confitlently  asserted,  that,  but  for 
the  reformation,  and  for  the  attempt  by  Galileo  to  prove 
his  system,  not  merely  as  a  specious  theory,  but  as  incon- 
testably  true,  by  the  authority  of  the  written  word,  he 
would  never  have  been  molested. 

Some  time  before  Galileo,  Cardinal  Nicholas  de  Cusa 
had  openly  defended  the  system  of  Philolaus  and  Pytha- 
goras, on  the  motion  of  the  earth ;  and  no  one  then 
thought  of  opposing  his  theory  on  religious  grounds. 
Nearly  a  century  before  Galileo,  Nicholas  Copernicus,  a 
Catholic  priest,  had  advocated  the  same  theory  :  and  he 
was  not  only  not  opposed,  but  Pope  Paul  Illt  approved 
of  the  dedication  to  himself  of  his  great  v/ork  "on  the 
revolutions  of  the  heavenly  bodies. "J  How  are  we  then 
to  explain  that  a  system,  v/hich  was  thus  openly  maintained 

*  Apiid  Robelot,  p.  355. 

|-  A  copy  of  the  original  work  of  Copernicus  is  preserved  in  the  Bri- 
tish Museum.  It  was  printed  at  Ki'iremberg,  by  John  Petreius,  at  the 
expense  of  Card'i  Nicholas  Schomber;^,  the  Cardinal  of  Capua.  In  the 
bef^lnnin^  of  the  volume  is  printed  a  laudatory  letter  of  the  Cardinal  to 
Copernicus,  dated  Rome,  1st  of  November,  I-jSO, 

X  "  De  Orbium  Ccelestium  Revolutionibus."    rollo— 1543,  p.  196. 


INFLUENCE    OF    THE    REFORM  ON    LITERATURE.         S45 

for  nearly  a  century,  by  cardinals  and  priests,  at  Rome 
itself,  where  Copernicus  had  been  professor  of  Astrono- 
my— and  all  this,  without  any  opposition — was  afterwards 
viewed  with  suspicion,  when  too  warmly  advocated  by 
Galileo  ? 

Th«  reason  is  manifest :  the  wanton  abuse  of  the  scrip- 
tures by  the  partisans  of  the  reformation  had  made  Rome 
suspicious  of  every  thing  which  savored  of  novelty.  Am- 
bitious rivals,  whom  the  literary  fame  of  Galileo  had 
eclipsed,  had  also  represented  his  system  in  an  odious  and 
false  light  to  the  Roman  Court:  they  had  painted  it  as 
opposed  to  the  scriptures,  to  the  testimony  of  which  Gali- 
leo on  the  other  hand  as  confidently  appealed.  The 
wholeissue  was  thus  made  on  scriptural  grounds.  Rome 
took  the  alarm,  and,  without  precisely  condemning  the 
system  of  Galileo  as  false,  enjoined  silence  on  the  dispu- 
tants. Galileo  remained  in  Rome  from  February  to  July, 
1633,  a  space  of  more  than  five  months,  during  which 
time  he  resided  at  the  spacious  palace  of  his  special  friend, 
the  Tuscan  Ambassador,  who  was  his  surety  during  the 
trial.  For  only  four  days  at  most,  even  according  to  the 
testimony  of  Mr.  Drinkwater,  his  Protestant  historian,  he 
was  in  nominal  confinement ;  being  "  honorably  lodged 
in  the  apartments  of  the  fiscal  of  the  Inquisition."* 

The  reckless  abuse  of  the  scripture,  by  the  reformation, 
and  the  distrust  thereby  occasioned,  are  thus  alone  respon- 
sible for  this  temporary  check  to  scientific  improvement 
in  the  person  of  Galileo.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  as  an 
offset  to  the  case  of  the  Italian  philosopher,  did  not  the 
Protestant  astronomer,  Tycho  Brahe,  invent,  on  scriptural 
grounds,  a  system,  at  variance  with  the  Copernican,  and 
now  universally  rejected,  though  then  popular  among 
Protestants  ?  And  was  not  his  great  disciple  Kepler,  as 
well  as  himself,  persecuted  by  Protestants,  for  his  valua- 
ble discoveries  in  Astronomy  ? 

*  Drinkwater— Life  of  Galileo,  p.  53,  and  p.  64. 


346  d'aueignb's  hktory  reviewed. 

The  authority  of  an  unexceptionable  witness,  Mr.  Hal- 
1am,  greatly  confirms  the  view  just  taken  of  the  case  of 
Galileo.  He  says :  *'  For  eighty  years,  it  has  been  said, 
this  theory  of  the  earth's  motion  had  been  maintained, 
without  censure;  and  it  could  only  be  the  greater  bold- 
ness of  Galileo  in  its  assertion  wliich  drew  down  upon  him 
the  notice  of  the  church.''*  In  a  note,t  he  disproves  the 
assertion  of  Drink  water — "  that  Galileo  did  not  endeavor 
to  prove  his  system  compatible  with  Scripture ;"  and  adds  : 
"it  seems,  in  fact,  to  have  been  this  over  desire  to  prove 
his  theory  orthodox,  which  incensed  the  church  against  it. 
See  an  extraordinary  article  on  this  subject  in  the  eighth 
number  of  the  Dublin  Review. "J  Guicciardini,  an  ardent 
disciple  of  Galileo,  in  a  letter  dated  March  4th,  1616, 
says,  '*  that  he  had  demanded  of  the  Pope  and  the  Holy 
Office  to  declare  the  system  of  Copernicus  founded  on  the 
Bible."  At  Rome,  Galileo  was  treated  most  kindly  by 
the  Pope  and  the  Cardinals,  as  he  himself  testifies  in  a 
letter  to  his  disciple  Receneri,  written  in  1633. Il 

The  restrictions  on  the  liberty  of  the  press  were 
also  often  injurious  to  the  progress  of  learning.  Protes- 
tant governments  in  Europe  have  been,  and  are  even  at 
this  day,  deserving  of  at  least  as  much  censure  on  this 
subject  as  those  of  Catholic  countries.  The  supposed 
necessity  for  a  censorship  of  the  press,  frequently  origin- 
ated in  the  wanton  abuse  of  it  by  those  who  had  adopted 
the  principles  of  the  reformation.  But  for  the  mutual 
distrust  which  this  revolution  caused  to  arise  in  the  minds 
of  men,  the  press  would  have  been  free,  or  at  least  much 
less  restricted  than  it  really  was.  We  read  of  little  or 
no  restriction  on  the  liberty  of  the  press,  until  some  time 
after  the  reformation  ;  though  the  art  of  printing  had  been 

*  «  History  of  Literature,"  ii,  2i8.  f  Ibid.  p.  249. 

X  See  also  the  article  Sciences  Humainex  in  Bergier's  Dictionary 
which  sheds  much  light  on  this  whole  transaction. 

11  Published  in  the  <«  Mercure  de  France,"  July  17,  1784. 


INFLUENCE  OF  THE  REFORM  ON  LITERATURE.     Q47 

in  successful  operation  for  more  than  half  a  century. 
Thus  the  reformation  is  fairly  chargeable,  at  least  in  a 
great  measure,  with  having  originated  that  very  censor- 
ship of  the  press,  which  is  so  often  the  burden  of  the  in- 
vectives of  its  partisan^  against  the  Catholic  church. 

But  perhaps  the  most  singular  instance  of  the  obstacles 
thrown  in  the  way  of  literary  improvement  by  the  refor- 
mation, is  that  furnished  by  the  obstinate  resistance  of  the 
Protestant  governments  of  Europe,  to  the  change  in  the 
Calendar  adopted  by  Pope  Gregory  XIII,  in  the  year 
1582.  The  correction  of  the  Calendar  was  founded  on 
the  clearest  and  most  incontestable  principles  of  Astrono- 
my ;  and  yet,  solely  because  the  improvement  emanated 
from  Rome,  England  refused  to  adopt  it  for  170  years, 
until  1752  ;  Sweden  adopted  the  new  style,  a  year  later, 
in  1753,  and  the  German  states,  the  cradle  of  the  refor- 
mation, only  in  1776 !  As  a  distinguished  writer  has 
caustically  remarked,  the  Protestant  potentates  preferred 
"  warring  with  the  stars,  to  agreeing  with  the  Pope !" 

The  long  and  bloody  religious  wars,  which  the  reforma- 
tion caused,  or  at  least  occasioned  in  Germany,  were 
another  very  serious  hindrance  to  the  progress  of  learn- 
ing. These  wars  continued  at  intervals  for  nearly  150 
years,  until  the  great  treaty  of  Westphalia  in  1648;  and 
they  filled  all  Germany  with  wide-spread  desolation. 
The  war  of  extermination  against  the  peasants — the 
bloody  war  against  the  Anabaptists — the  wars  of  Charles 
V,  and  the  Protestant  princes  of  Germany — and  finally, 
the  awful  thirty  years'  war — from  1618  to  1648 — ^between 
the  Catholic  party  headed  by  the  house  of  Austria,  and 
the  Protestant  party  led  on  chiefly  by  the  Kings  of  Swe- 
den— made  all  Germany  a  scene  of  turmoil,  confusion  and 
bloodshed.  How  many  of  the  monuments  of  ancient 
literature  and  art  were  swept  away  during  all  this  bloody 
strife!  How  many  cities  were  desolated,  libraries  burnt, 
and  men  of  eminence  slain  !  In  the  midst  of  a  bloody 
civil  war,  with  danger  constantly  at  their  very  door,  men 


348  d'aubignk's  history  reviewed. 

had  neither  leisure  nor  inclination  to  apply  to  literary 
pursuits.  Apollo  courts  peace:  he  seldom  wears  laurels 
stained  with  blood. 

We  may  safely  affirm,  that,  for  the  reasons  hitherto 
alleged,  and  more  particularly  the  last,  the  reformation 
retarded  the  literary  progress  of  Germany  for  at  least  a 
century.  Any  one  will  be  convinced  of  this,  who  will 
compare  the  literary  history  of  Germany  in  the  beginning 
of  the  sixteenth,  with  what  it  was  in  the  seventeenth,  and 
the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century.  At  the  dawn 
of  the  reformation,  German  literature  v/as  in  a  most  pro- 
mising condition.  Greek,  Latin  and  Hebrew  learning 
had  revived,  and  were  beginning  to  be  cultivated  with 
success.  Reuchlin,  Budaeus  and  Erasmus  had  filled  Ger- 
many with  literary  glory. 

An  anecdote  of  Reuchlin,  related  by  M.  D'Aubigne, 
may  serve  to  give  us  some  idea  of  the  extent  to  which 
Greek  literature  was  then  carried  in  Germany.  In  1498 
— twenty  years  before  the  reformation — he  was  sent  to 
Rome  as  ambassador  from  the  electoral  court  of  Saxony. 
"An  illustrious  Greek,  Argyropylos,  was  explaining  in 
that  metropolis,  to  a  numerous  auditory,  the  wondeiful 
progress  his  nation  had  formerly  made  in  literature.  The 
learned  ambassador  went  with  his  suite  to  the  room  where 
the  master  was  teaching,  and  on  his  entrance  saluted  him, 
and  lamented  the  misery  of  Greece,  then  languishing 
under  Turkish  despotism.  The  astonished  Greek  asked 
the  German :  *  whence  come  you,  and  do  you  understand 
Greek?'  Reuchlin  replied  :  *  I  am  a  German,  and  am  not 
quite  ignorant  of  your  language.'  At  the  request  of  Ar- 
gyropylos, he  read  and  explained  a  passage  of  Thucjdides, 
which  the  professor  happened  to  have  before  him;  upon 
which  Argyropylos  cried  out  in  grief  and  astonishment: 
'  alas  !  alas  !  Greece  cast  out  and  fugitive,  is  gone  to  hide 
herself    beyond  the  Alps!'"*    Had  Argyrop^'los  visited 

*Vol.  i,  p.  96. 


INFLUENCE  OF  THE  REFORM  ON  LITERATURE.     549 

Germany  a  century  later,  he  would  probably  have  found 
that  **  fugitive  Greece  which  had  hid  herself  beyond  the 
Alps,"  had  been  ruthlessly  driven  from  her  shelter  in 
Germany,  by  the  myrmidons  of  the  reformation ! 

At  the  commencement  of  the  reformation,  many  Ger- 
man princes  were  liberal  patrons  of  learning.  Amon"- 
these,  the  most  conspicuous,  were  the  Emperor  Maximi- 
lian ;  Frederick,  Elector  of  Saxony,  who  founded  the 
University  of  Wittemberg  in  J  502;  Joachim,  Elector  of 
Brandenburg,  who  established  the  University  of  Frank- 
fort on  the  Oder,  in  1506  ;  Albert,  Archbishop  of  Mentz  ; 
and  George,  Duke  of  Saxony.*  But  the  troubles  occa- 
sioned by  the  doctrines  of  the  reformers,  caused  the  Ger- 
man princes  to  turn  their  attention  more  to  camps  and 
battlefields,  than  to  the  seats  of  learning  and  the  patron- 
age of  learned  men. 

Italy  had  led  the  way  in  literary  improvement.  Hal- 
lam  says  :  *'  the  difference  in  point  of  learning  between 
Italy  and  England  was  at  least  that  of  a  century  :  that  is, 
the  former  was  more  advanced  in  knowledge  of  ancient 
literature  in  1400  than  the  latter  was  in  1500. "t  In 
another  place,  speaking  of  the  relative  encouragement  of 
literature  by  Italy  and  Germany,  he  has  this  remarkable 
passage:  "Italy  was  then  (in  the  beginning  of  the  six- 
teenth century),  and  perhaps,  has  been  ever  smce,  the  soil 
where  literature,  if  it  has  not  always  most  flourished,  has 
stood  highest  in  general  estimation. "J  This  avowal  is 
the  more  precious  as  coming  from  a  Protestant,  and  an 
Englishman. 

Speaking  of  the  history  of  literature  from  the  year  1520 
to  1550,  he  pays  this  just  tribute  to  the  literary  ascendency 
of  Italy:  *' Italy,  the  genial  soil  where  the  literature  of 
antiquity  had  been  first  cultivated,  still  retained  her  su- 
periority in  the  fine  perception  of  its  beauties,  and  in  the 

*  See  Hallam — History  of  Literature,  Sec.  siip.  cit.  i,  159. 
t  Ibid.  p.  145,  §  8.  X  Ibid.  p.  159,  §  48. 

50 


350  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

power  of  retracing  them  bj  spirited  imitation.  It  was 
the  land  of  taste  and  sensibility;  never  surely  more  so, 
than  in  the  age  of  Raphael  as  well  as  Ariosto.''* 

Literary  societies  for  the  promotion  of  learning  were 
formed  much  later  in  Germany  than  in  Italy  and  France. 
It  was  only  in  1617,  that  the  *' fruitful  society,"  the  first 
that  ever  existed  in  Germany,  was  established  at  Weimar.t 
The  example  of  Italy  would  have  been  in  all  probability 
much  sooner  followed,  had  not  the  reformation  engaged 
the  public  attention  in  other  pursuits.  The  spirit  of 
Reuchlin  and  of  Erasmus  had  disappeared:  their  refined 
taste  was  superseded  by  that  which  Schlegel  so  happily 
designates  the  barlaro-poleinic ;  and  the  result  was  the 
retarding  of  literary  improvement  in  the  manner  we  have 
stated. 

From  the  dawn  of  the  reformation  to  the  reign  of  Fre- 
derick the  Great — a  period  of  more  than  two  hundred 
vears — Get  many  was  behind  the  other  principal  countries 
of  Europe  in  learning:  it  required  full  two  hundred  years 
for  her  to  recover  from  the  rude  shock  her  literature  had 
received  from  the  hands  of  the  reformers!  In  1715,  the 
great  Leibnitz  feelingly  deplored  this  literary  desolation 
of  his  country.  J  He  says  in  another  place,  that  the  relish 
for  philosophical  pursuits  was  so  rare  in  Germany,  "that 
he  could  not  find  any  person  in  his  country,  who  had  a 
taste  for  philosophy  and  mathematics,  and  with  whom  he 
could  converse."§  Even  as  late  as  1808,  M.  Jacobi, 
another  Protestant  writer,  draws  a  frightful  picture  of  the 
moral  and  literary  condition  of  the  German  Protestant 
Universities  during  his  time.H 

It  is  very  common  to  find  it  boldly  asserted  from  the 
pulpit  and  through  the  press,  that  the  revival  of  letters  in 

*  Ibid.  p.  173,  §  1.  t  Idem.  vol.  ii,  p.  172. 

X  See  his  letter  to  M.  Bignon,  22d  June,  1715 — Commercii  Epist. 
Leibnitz.  Selecta  Specimina — sup.  cit.  Epist.  xciv. 

§  Letter  to  M.  de  Beauval — ibid.  Ep.  xxv. 
[1  See  his  testimony  in  Robelot,  p.  421,  422. 


INFLUENCE  OF  THE  REFORM  ON  LITERATURE.  351 

Europe  was  brought  about  bj  the  reformation!  Nothing 
could  be  more  unfounded  in  fact,  and  more  utterly  absurd, 
than  this  assertion.  To  Italy,  under  the  fostering  protec- 
tion of  her  Medici,  her  Gonzagas,  her  Estes,  and  her 
Popes,  and  more  especially  Nicholas  V  and  Leo  X,  do 
we  in  a  great  measure  owe  the  revival  of  learning  in  Eu- 
rope. All  persons  of  any  information  admit  this.  Ros- 
coe,  an  English  Protestant,  has  written  an  extensive  work 
to  do  honor  to  the  pontificate  of  Leo  X,  which  he  proves 
to  have  been  the  golden  age  of  learning.*  Hallam  also 
pays  a  splendid  tribute  to  this  second  Augustan  age  of 
literature.!  A  light  then  shot  up  in  Italy — in  Rome  its 
brightness  was  most  dazzling — which  illumined  the  whole 
world  !  Nor  was  it  the  first  time  that  Rome  had  led  the 
way  in  improvement  and  civilization  ! 

The  impulse  having  been  thus  powerfully  given, all  Eu- 
rope was  rapidly  advancing  in  learning.  The  progress 
was  steady  and  healthy.  On  a  sudden,  the  storm  of  the 
reformation  broke  in  upon  the  tranquillity  of  Europe, 
which  was  peacefully  and  calml}^  engaged  in  literary  pur- 
suits. The  result  was  almost  the  same  as  that  of  a  vio- 
lent and  long  continued  storm  on  a  beautiful  garden,  fra- 
grant with  flowers  and  rich  in  fruits.  The  fruits  of  pre- 
vious toil  were  rudely  shaken  down  ere  they  had  become 
mature  ;  the  flowers  were  blighted ;  and  the  garden  was 
changed  into  a  desert  I  If  literature  was  still  preserved, 
it  was  in  spite  of  the  reformation  ! 

The  usual  argument  of  those  who  maintain  that  the 
reformation  was  the  cause  of  the  literary  resurrection  of 
Europe,  is  founded  on  a  comparison  of  the  condition  of 
Europe  before,  with  what  it  became,  after  the  reformation. 
Literature  was  in  a  more  flourishing  condition  after,  than 
lefore  the  sixteenth  century  :  therefore,  the  reformation 
caused  the  change  for  the  better.     Never  was  there  a  more 

*  Roscoe— Life  and  Pontificate  of  Leo  X,  mp.  cit. 
t  Vol.  i,  p.  148,  seqq.      See  also  Aiidin,  Life  of  Luther,  p.  124,  seqq. 


352  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

shallow  sopliism.  It  belongs  to  the  category:  post  hoc, 
ergo  propter  hoc*  To  estimate  the  literary  influence  of 
the  reformation  aright,  we  should  compare  the  literary 
state  of  Europe  before  the  reformation,  with  what  it  would 
have  been  afterwards,  if  the  reformation  had  not  inter- 
vened :  or  more  properly  ;  we  should  compare  the  progress 
which  Europe  really  made  after  the  reformation,  especially 
in  Protestant  countries,  with  what  it  would  have  made, 
but  for  the  reformation.  Abiding  by  this  test,  we  fear- 
lessly assert,  on  the  authority  of  the  facts  and  evidence 
above  adduced,  that  the  literary  influence  of  the  reforma- 
tion was  most  disastrous. 

We  do  not  pretend  to  deny  that  Protestantism  has  pro- 
duced many  illustrious  literary  characters.  Catholicism 
has  produced  at  least  as  great  men,  and  many  more  of 
them.  Galileo  and  La  Place  may  compare  advantageously 
with  Huygens  and  Newton  :  and  Copernicus  far  outshines 
Tycho  Brahe.  The  latter,  though  a  Protestant,  was  en- 
couraged chiefly  by  Catholic  potentates  of  Germany. 
Among  philosophers,  if  Bacon  and  Descartes  were  weighed 
in  the  balance,  the  latter  would  probably  preponderate. 
It  would  lead  us  too  far,  to  continue  this  comparison 
through  all  its  details.  But  we  may  ask,  whether  the  an- 
nals of  Protestant  literature  can  produce  brighter  names 
than  Cardinal  Ximenes,  Cervantes,  Lope  de  Vega,  Her- 
rera  and  Calderon  in  Spain  ;  Bossuet,  Fenelon,  Racine, 
Moliere  and  Legendre,  in  France ;  Raphael,  Michael 
Angelo,  Vida,  Tasso,  Muratori,  Tiraboschi,  Boscovitch, 
and  a  countless  host  of  others  in  Italy;  Frederick  von 
Schlegel,  Moeller,  and  Gorres  in  Germany ;  and  Pope, 
Dryden,  and  Lingard  and  Moore,  in  England  and  Ireland  ? 
These  are  but  a  few,  selected  almost  at  random,  from  the 
long  list  of  Catholic  literati. 

In  regard  to  inventions  of  great  and  permanent  utility 

*  **  Afler  this  ;  therefore  on  accovnt  of  this."  Never  was  a  therefore 
more  misapplied. 


INFLUENCE  OF  THE  REFORM  ON  LITERATURE.     553 

to  mankind,  a  far  greater  number  was  made  by  Catholics 
than  by  Protestants.  The  mariner's  compass,  gun  pow- 
der, the  art  of  printing,  clocks  and  watches,  as  well  as 
steamboat  navigation,*  were  all  invented  bv  Catholics. 
To  them  also  belongs  the  glory  of  having  discovered  Ame- 
rica, and  of  having  first  doubled  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope, 
and  discovered  the  Indies.  The  microscope,  the  teles- 
cope, the  thermometer,  the  barometer,  were  all  invented 
by  Catholics.  The  chief  great  discoveries  in  astronomy — 
that  of  Jupiter's  satellites,  of  spots  in  the  sun,  and  of  the 
four  new  planets  or  asteroids — were  all  made  by  Catholics. 
Modern  poetry  was  first  cultivated  successfully  in  Italy  by 
Dante  and  Petrarch;  and  Blair  admits,  that  in  historical 
writing  the  Italians  excel  all  other  people. 

The  paper  on  which  we  write,  the  use  of  window  glass 
and  the  art  of  staining  it,  the  weaving  of  cloth,  the  art  of 
enamelling  on  ivory  and  metals,  the  discovery  of  stone 
coal,  the  sciences  of  galvanism  and  mineralogy  ;  and  many 
other  improvements  were  introduced  by  Catholics  :  most 
of  them  in  the  **dark"  ages  !  Ai^d  it  may  he  confidently 
asserted,  on  the  faith  of  genuine  history,  that  during  the 
three  hundred  years  preceding  the  reformation,  more  great 
and  important  inventions  were  made,  than  during  the  three 
hundred  centuries  succeeding  that  revolution  !  And  yet, 
we  are  to  be  told,  that  sve  owe  all  our  literature  and  im- 
provement to  the  reformation  ! 

We  may  here  also  remark,  that  the  two  great  epochs  of 
modern  literature — that  of  Leo  X  and  of  Louis  XIV — 
both  occurred  in  Catholic  countries  and  under  Catholic 
auspices.  The  age  of  Frederick  the  Great,  in  Germany, 
was  nearly  allied  in  character  with  that  which  immediately 
followed  it  under  the  influence  of  the  infidels  of  France: 

*  Blasco  de  Garay,  a  Spaniard,  made  the  first  successful  experiment 
in  steam  navigation,  in  the  harbor  of  Barcelona,  in  the  year  1543. 
Eighty-five  years  later,  Brancas  followed  up  the  discovery  in  Italy. 
See  "  A  Year  in  Spain"  by  an  American  Protestant,  vol.  i,  p.  47,  seq. 
Note.- Edit  New  York,  1830. 
30* 


554 

while  the  literary  glories  of  Queen  Ann's  reign  in  England, 
were  equalled,  if  they  were  not  surpassed,  bj  those  of  the 
Age  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  in  Spain. 

We  will  conclude  this  chapter,  already  long  enough, 
with  a  few  extracts  from  modern  Protestant  writers,  bear- 
ing on  our  present  subject.  The  first  will  be  from  Black- 
wood's Magazine,  a  print  remarkable  for  its  great  ability, 
and  for  its  bitter  hostility  to  the  Catholic  church.  Mark 
how  the  writer  speaks  of  the  influence  of  the  reformation 
on  literature. 

*•  The  pontificate  of  Leo  X,  commenced  in  1513.  His 
patronage  of  literature  is  too  well  known  to  be  long  dwelt 
on  ;  yet,  during  his  life,  literature  was  fated  to  receive 
the  severest  check  ivhich  it  had  yet  received.  This  was  oc- 
casioned hy  the  reformation,  whose  dawn,  while  it  shed 
light  (!  !)  upon  the  regions  of  theology,  looked  frowningly 
on  those  of  profane  learning.  In  fact,  the  all-important 
controversy  then  at  issue,  so  thoroughly  engrossed  the 
minds  of  men,  as  to  divert  them,  for  a  while,  from  other 
studies.  The  quick  eye  of  Erasmus  perceived  this,  and 
casting  down  the  weapons  of  theological  strife,  which  he 
l»ad  grasped  in  the  enthusiasm  of  the  first  onset,  he  left 
the  field,  exclaiming  in  atone  of  heartfelt  anguish — *  Ubi- 
cumque  regnat  Luther anismns,  ibi  literarum  est  inier- 
itus'' — '  wherever  Lutheranism  prevails,  there  learning 
perishes.'  "*  The  writer  then  gives  other  quotations 
from  Erasmus  and  Hal  lam,  which  we  have  cited  above. 
This  testimony  of  an  enemy  is  unexceptionable  and  con- 
clusive. 

Our  second  Protestant  witness  is  William  Cobbett,  whom 
we  cite,  not  so  much  for  the  weight  of  his  personal  authority, 
as  for  the  important  facts  he  alleges,  and  which  have 
never  been  disproved,  probably  because  they  could  not  be 
called  in  question.  He  makes  an  elaborate  comparison, 
in  regard  to  literature,  between  Protestant  England,  and 

*  P.  465. 


INFLUENCE  OF  THE  REFORM  ON  LITERATURE.  555 

Catholic  France  and  Italy.  His  parallel  embraces  one 
hundred  and  eighty-seven  years,  from  1600  to-178r.  His 
authority  for  the  statement  he  makes,  is  a  Protestant  work, 
universally  read  in  England — the  "Universal  Historical, 
Critical,  and  Bibliographic  Dictionary."  Though  our 
business  is  chiefly  with  Germany,  yet  the  facts  which  we 
will  now  disclose  in  regard  to  England,  will  tend  not  a 
little  to  throw  light  on  the  general  literary  tendency  of 
the  reformation.  England  has  boasted  more  perhaps  than 
any  other  Protestant  country,  of  her  superior  enlighten- 
ment and  refinement:  and  if  it  appear  on  indubitable 
Protestant  authority,  that  even  she  must  yield  the  literary 
palm  to  Catholic  France  and  Italy,  we  may  readily  infer, 
what  is,  relatively  to  these  last  named  states,  the  literary 
excellence  of  Germany  and  of  other  Protestant  countries. 
The  authority  from  which  Cobbett  derives  the  following 
table  allowed  a  place  on  its  pages  only  to  great  and  dis- 
tino-uished  names.  The  fio;ures  in  the  table  denote  the 
number  of  writers  in  each  country  who  have  excelled  in 
the  respective  branches  opposite  which  their  names  are 
placed. 

England.  France.  Italy. 

Writers  on  Law 6  51  9 

Mathematicians 17  52  15 

Physicians  and  Surgeons.. .  13  72  21 

Writers  on  Natural  History          6  S3  11 

Historians 21  139  22 

Dramatic  Writers 19  66  6 

Grammarians 7  42  2 

Poets 38  157  34 

Painters 5  64  44 

Total 132  676  164 

The  reader  may  make  his  own  comments  on  this  state- 
ment, from  which  it  appears  that  "  ignorant"  Italy  during 
the  period  in  question  produced  thirty-two  more  writers 
of  eminence  in  the  nine  chief  departments  of  literature, 
than  proudly  boasting  England  ;  and  that  France  pro- 
duced considerably  more  than  five  times  the  number  ! 
Figures  cannot  mislead,  and  facts  are  stubborn  things  ! 


356  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

It  is  a  very  common  charge  against  the  Catholic  church 
that  she  keeps  her  people  in  ignorance  ;  and  to  prove  tliis 
accusation,  an  appeal  is  made  to  the  condition  of  Catholic 
countries,  in  which,  it  is  said,  the  common  people  are  not 
educated.  Let  us  see  what  a  living  author,  and  an  unex- 
ceptionable witness,  because  a  Protestant  and  a  Scotch- 
man, says  upon  this  very  subject.  He  relates,  too,  what 
he  himself  saw  and  had  full  opportunities  of  examining. 
We  allude  to  Laing,  whose  "  Notes  of  a  Traveller"  have 
just  appeared. 

He  says  :  *'  In  Catholic  Germany,  in  France,  and  even 
in  Italy,  the  education  of  the  common  people  in  reading, 
writing,  arithmetic,  music,  manners,  and  morals,  is  at 
least  as  generally  diffused  and  as  faithfully  promoted  by 
the  clerical  body  as  in  Scotland.  It  is  by  their  own  ad- 
vance, and  not  by  keeping  back  the  advance  of  the  peo- 
ple, that  the  popish  priesthood  of  the  present  day  seek  to 
keep  ahead  of  the  intellectual  progress  of  the  community 
in  Catholic  lands:  and  they  might  perhaps  retort  on  our 
Presbyterian  clergy,  and  ask  if  they  too  are  in  their  coun- 
tries at  the  head  of  the  intellectual  movement  of  the  age  ? 
Education  is  in  reality  not  only  not  repressed,  but  is  en- 
couraged by  the  popish  (!)  church,  and  is^  mighty  instru- 
ment in  its  hands,  and  ably  used.  In  every  street  in 
Rome,  for  instance,  there  are,  at  short  distances,  public 
primary  schools  for  the  education  of  the  children  of  the 
lower  and  middle  classes  in  the  neighborhood.  Rome, 
with  a  population  of  158,678  souls,  Ijas  three  hundred 
and  seventy-two*  primary  schools,  with  four  hundred  and 
eighty-two  teachers,  and  fourteen  thousand  children  at- 
tending them.     Has  Edinburg  so  many  schools   for  the 

*  This  number  is  perhaps  somewhat  below  the  mark.  According  to 
the  Cracas,  or  Roman  Almanac  for  1834,  Rome  then  had  three  hundred 
and  eighty-one  free  schools  ;  and  we  presume  the  number  has  not  since 
decreased,  as  we  know  the  population  has  been  steadily  increasing. 
Many  of  these  schools  are  supported  by  private  charity,  while  those  of 
Protestant  countries  are  maintained  only  by  burdensome  taxation. 


INFLUENCE  OF  THE  REFORM  ON  LITERATURE.    357 

instruction  of  those  classes  ?  I  doubt  it.  Berlin,  with 
a  population  about  double  that  of  Rome,  has  only  two 
hundred  and  sixty-four  schools.  Rome  has  also  her  uni- 
versity, with  an  average  attendance  of  six  hundred  and 
sixty  students  :  and  the  papal  states,  with  a  population  of 
two  and  a  half  millions,  contain  seven  universities.  Prus- 
sia, with  a  population  of  fourteen  millions,  has  but  seven." 
The  value  of  this  splendid  testimony  is  greatlv  en- 
hanced when  we  reflect  that  Scotland  and  Prussia  are  the 
boasted  lands  of  common  schools.  Protestants,  it  would 
seem,  can  hoast  more  on  what  they  have  done  for  litera- 
ture ;  but  Catholics  can  do  more  without  making  any 
great  parade.* 

*  For  more  on  this  subject,  and  especially  on  what  Catholics  have 
done  for  literature,  see  an  article  on  "  Literature  and  the  Arts  in  the 
Middle  Ages,"  in  the  Catholic  Cabinet  for  November,  1843.  Also  an 
article  in  the  December  number  of  the  same  "  on  Schools  and  Univer- 
sities in  the  Middle  Ages  ;"  and  another  in  the  January  number  (1844) 
of  the  U.  S.  Catholic  Magazine,  in  answer  to  the  question,  "  What 
have  the  Catholic  clergy  and  monks  done  for  literature  ?"  We  had  at 
first  resolved  to  republish,  in  an  appendix  to  the  present  work,  all  these 
essays,  as  well  as  some  others  to  which  we  have  made  reference ;  but 
'the  fear  of  swelling  this  volume  to  too  great  a  size  has  prevented  the 
execution  of  our  original  intention 


CHAPTER    XV. 


INFLUENCE    OF    THE    REFORMATION    ON    CIVILIZATION. 

Definition-  -Religion,  the  basis — Reclaiming  from  barbarism — British 
East  India  possessions — Catholic  and  Protestant  conquests — Protest- 
ant missions — Sandwich  Islands — The  mother  of  civilization — The 
ark  amid  the  deluge — Rome  converts  the  nations — Early  German 
civilization — Mohammedanism — The  crusades — The  popes — Luther 
and  the  Turks — Luther  retracts — Religious  wars  in  Germany — Thirty 
years'  war — General  peace— Disturbed  by  the  reformation — Compar- 
ison between  Protestant  and  Catholic  countries. 

To  civilize,  according  to  lexicographers;  is  "  to  reclaim 
from  a  state  of  savageness  and  brutality."  According  to 
its  more  common  acceptation,  however,  the  word  civiliza- 
tion implies  more  than  a  mere  reclaiming  from  barbarism. 
It  embraces,  as  its  more  prominent  constituent  elements, 
enlightenment  of  the  public  mind,  good  government  con-'' 
ducted  on  liberal  principles,  a  certain  refinement  in  pub- 
lic taste  and  manners,  and  a  gentleness  and  polish  in  so- 
cial intercourse.  The  more  fully  these  elements  are 
developed  together,  the  higher  the  state  of  civilization. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  religion  lies  at  the  basis  of 
all  true  civilization.  A  mere  glance  at  the  past  history 
and  present  condition  of  the  world  must  satisfy  any  im- 
partial man  of  this  truth.  Those  countries  only  have 
been  blessed  with  a  high  degree  of  civilization  which  have 
been  visited  b\  the  Christian  religion.  Those  which  have 
not  had  this  visitation,  or  which  have  rejected  it,  are  in  a 
state  of  barbarism,  or  at  least  of  semi-barbarism.  If  Eu- 
rope is  more  highly  civilized  than  any  other  quarter  of 
the  globe,  it  is  precisely  because  she  has  been  more  fully 
under  the  humanizing  influence  of  Christianity.     If  Af- 


INFLUENCE  OF  THE  REFORM  ON  CIVILIZATION.  359 

rica  is  the  lowest  in  the  scale,  it  is  because  her  people 
have  been  least  acted  on  by  this  influence. 

Asia  occupies  an  intermediate  ground  between  barba- 
rism on  the  one  hand,  and  a  state  of  semi- civilization  on 
the  other.  That  portion  of  her  population  which  has 
never  received  the  Christian  religion,  still  continues  in' a 
state  of  unmitigated  barbarism.  That  portion  which 
once  received,  but  has  since  in  a  great  measure  lost  sight 
of  or  rejected  the  doctrines  of  Christianity,  may  in  general 
be  pronounced  to  be  in  a  state  but  half-civilized.  No 
more  striking  proof  of  the  soundness  of  these  remarks 
can  perhaps  be  given,  than  the  incontestable  fact  that  all 
western  Asia,  embracing  Asia  Minor,  Syria,  Palestine,  By- 
thinia,  Mesopotamia,  and  Armenia,  and  which  was,  during 
the  early  a^es  of  Christianity,  in  a  higli  state  of  civiliza- 
tion, has  since  sunk  into  a  state  of  semi-barbarism,  when 
Christianity  had  been  either  extinguished  or  paralyzed  in 
its  influence  by  Mohammedanism.  Constantinople,  An- 
tioch,  and  Ephesus,  once  the  centres  of  civilization,  and 
the  radiating  points  of  learning,  are  now  the  seats  of  bar- 
barism— all  their  laurels  withered,  and  all  their  glory 
fled,  perhaps  for  ever !  Egypt  and  northern  Africa  were 
also,  during  the  first  ages  of  the  church,  far  advanced  in 
civilized  life.  But  what  is  their  ^jondition  now,  and 
what  has  it  been  for  many  centuries,  since  the  overthrow 
of  Christian  institutions  by  those  of  Islamism  ?  The 
dark  night  of  barbarism  still  broods  heavily  over  them, 
though  a  cheering  twilight  of  dawn  is  beginning  to  brighten 
in  Algeria.  And,  in  Europe,  those  countries  precisely 
have  advanced  the  least  in  civilization  which — as  Russia 
and  other  more  northern  nations — have  been  less  fully 
and  powerfully  acted  on  by  the  principles  of  the  Christian 
religion. 

From  the  facts  already  established  in  the  previous  chap- 
ters, we  may  easily  gather  what  was  the  influence  of  the 
reformation  on  these  two  leading  elements  of  civilization — 
free  government  and  literary  enlightenment.     We  think 


S60  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

that  every  impartial  man  who  will  take  the  trouble  to 
weigh  well  the  evidence  already  accumulated  on  those 
subjects,  will  come  to  the  conclusion  that,  as  far  at  least 
as  these  are  concerned,  the  influence  of  the  reformation 
was  most  injurious.  We  would  not,  however,  be  under- 
stood as  denying  that  Protestantism  subsequently  exer- 
cised, at  least  occasionally  and  to  some  extent,  a  benefi- 
cial influence  on  the  progress  of  society.  We  freely 
admit  that  Protestants  have  done  something  for  this  ad- 
vancement of  humanity  :  but  we  maintain  that  Catholics 
have  done  much  more,  and  that,  without  the  reformation, 
the  world  would  have  advanced  much  more  rapidly  in 
civilization  than  it  has  done  with  its  co-operation. 

To  begin  wiih  the  first  idea  implied  by  the  term — a 
reclaiming  from  barbarism,  what  nation  or  neople,  we 
would  ask,  has  Protestantism  ever  reclaimed  irom  a  bar- 
barous to  a  civilized  condition  ?  What  nation,  or  even 
considerable  portion  of  a  nation,  has  it  ever  converted 
from  heathenism  to  Christianity  ?  It  has  caused  many 
to  abandon  the  old  system  of  religion,  and  to  embrace  its 
own  crude  and  new-fangled  notions  :  but  we  have  yet  to 
learn  that  it  has  brought  one  heathen  people  into  the 
Christian  fold.  Many  barbarous  nations  and  tribes  have 
been  crushed  or  exterminated  by  the  onward  march  of  its 
own  peculiar  system  of  civilization;-  but  not  one,  so  far 
as  our  information  extends,  has  been  converted  to  Chris- 
tianity, or  even  ameliorated  in  social  condition,  through 
its  agency. 

And  yet  Protestantism  has  had  ample  power  in  its 
hands  for  this  purpose,  as  well  as  ample  verge  for  its  ope- 
rations. With  her  almost  unbounded  power  by  sea  and 
by  land,  England,  to  say  nothing  of  other  Protestant 
governments,  might  have,  it  would  seem,  converted  whole 
nations  to  Christianity,  and  thereby  reclaimed  them  from 
barbarism.  With  her  vast  power  and  influence  in  the 
East  Indies,  she  might  have  at  least  made  an  effort  to 
bring  the  immense  nations,  with  their  tens  of  millions  of 


INFLUENCE  OF  THE  REFORM  ON  CIVILIZATION.  oGl 

inhabitants,  which  there  acknowledge  her  sway,  into  the 
ample  fold  of  Christian  civilization.  But  what  has  she 
done  ?  Has  she  ameliorated  the  civil  condition  of  the 
seventy  millions  whom  she  holds  in  political  thraldom  in 
the  east  ?  Has  she  even  made  an  effort,  in  her  political 
capacity,  to  bring  about  this  result  ?  Has  the  inhuman 
car  of  Juggernaut  ceased  to  crush  its  numerous  victims? 
or  have  the  obscene  and  wicked  rites  of  paganism  van- 
ished before  her  influence  ? 

She  has  indeed  crushed  or  exterminated  whole  tribes 
by  her  arms,  or  ground  them  in  the  dust  by  her  tyranny, 
and  empoverished  them  by  her  exactions  !  She  has  done 
much  to  render  Christian  civilization  odious  in  their  eyes  : 
she  has  done  little  or  nothing  to  render  it  amiable  or  at- 
tractive. A  lust  of  power  and  of  money  has  been  the 
great  guiding,  all-absorbing  principle  of  her  policy:  and 
its  effects  are  visible  in  the  yet  deeper  and  deeper  degra- 
dation of  the  millions  who  unwillingly  bow  beneath  her 
yoke.  It  is  deemed  unnecessary  to  multiply  proofs  to 
establish  what  must  be  apparent  to  every  one  who  has 
even  glanced  at  the  history  of  the  conquests  and  policy 
of  England  in  her  East  India  possessions.  Her  own 
writers  and  the  official  acts  of  parliament  have  pro- 
claimed these  iniquities  to  the  world :  and  no  one  will  be 
so  skeptical  as  to  question  their  truth,  or  to  deny  their 
enormity. 

Happily,  such  has  not  been  the  case  with  Catholic  con- 
quests among  barbarous  nations.  The  first  thing  always 
thought  of  by  Catholic  sovereigns  who  established  their 
power  in  heathen  lands,  was  to  introduce  Christianity 
among  the  tribes  whom  they  had  subdued,  and  to  bring 
about,  through  its  agency,  their  gradual  civilization.  The 
Catholic  missionary  always  accompanied  the  leader  of 
Catholic  maritime  discovery  and  conquest,  to  soften  down 
the  horrors  of  war,  to  pour  oil  into  the  wounds  of  the 
vanquished  people,  and  to  direct  their  attention  to  sub- 
lime visions  of  civilization,  of  religion,  of  heaven.     The 


362  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

cross  was  always  reared  by  the  side  of  the  banner  of  con- 
quest. And  the  result  has  been  that  wherever  Catholic 
conquest  has  extended,  there  religion  has  been  also  estab- 
lished, and,  through  it,  civilization  has  been  introduced. 

Whoever  will  read  attentively  the  annals  of  Spanish 
and  Portuguese  voyages  of  discovery  and  conquest  in 
America  and  the  Indies,  will  be  convinced  of  the  entire 
truth  of  this  remark.  Our  countryman,  Washington 
Irving,*  has  done  ample  justice  to  this  subject;  and  we 
confidently  appeal  to  the  evidence  his  magic  pen  has 
spread  before  the  world,  for  a  triumphant  proof  of  our 
assertion.  Our  attention  is  often  directed,  with  a  sneer 
of  triumph,  to  the  inferior  political  condition  of  Spanish 
America:  but  those  who  employ  this  silly  argument,  and 
boast  of  their  own  superior  civilization  and  refinement, 
do  not  reflect,  or  would  not  have  us  reflect,  that,  whereas 
the  Spaniards  and  Portuguese  settled  down  and  intermar- 
ried with  the  aborigines,  and  used  every  effort  to  civilize 
them,  in  which  they  have  partially  succeeded;  we  in 
North  America,  with  all  our  boasted  superiority,  have 
circumvented,  goaded  into  war,  driven  from  place  to 
place,  and  finally  almost  exterminated  the  poor  Indians, 
the  original  proprietors  of  our  soil.t  Protestantism  is 
heartily  welcome  to  all  the  laurels  of  civilization  it  has 
won  in  this  field. 

It  is  rather  a  remarkable  coincidence  that,  in  the  very 
first  year  of  the  reformation,  1517,  the  first  expedition  of 
the  Spaniards  for  the  conquest  of  Mexico — that  under 
Cordova — was  undertaken.  Two  years  later,  in  1519, 
Hernando  Cortes  undertook  the  expedition  which  achieved 
the  conquest  of  Mexico.     On  his  standard  was  the  motto  : 

*  In  his  "Life  of  Columbus,"  2  vols.  8vo.  New  York,  J831.  See 
the  evidence  he  alleges  on  our  present  subject,  accumulated  in  a  Re- 
view of  Webster's  Bunker  Hill  Speech,  published  in  the  Catholic  Cab- 
inet of  St.  Louis,  October,  1843. 

t  See  Bancroft's  testimonies  and  other  evidences  on  the  subject,  col- 
lected ibid. 


INFLUENCE  OF  THE   REFORM  ON  CIVILIZATION.  363 

*'Amiciy  cnicem  sequamufy  et  in  hoc  signo  vincemus^^-^ 
*'  Friends,  let  us  follow  the  cross,  and  under  this  banner 
shall  we  conquer."  According  to  the  account  of  the 
Spanish  missionaries  who  accompanied  this  expedition  of 
Cortes,  six  millions  of  Mexicans  were  received  into  the 
Catholic  church  by  baptism  during  the  years  intervening 
between  1524  and  1540,  the  very  period  in  which  the 
reformation  was  progressing  most  rapidly  in  Europe.  It 
is  highly  probable  that,  by  this  remarkable  stroke  of  Di- 
vine Providence,  the  Catholic  church  thus  gained  at  least 
as  many  new  disciples  in  Spanish  America  alone,  as  she 
lost  old  ones  in  Europe  through  the  reformation  !* 

We  must  admit  that  Protestants  have  made  great  efforts 
to  convert  heathen  nations.  Millions  of  money  have  been 
liberally  bestowed  for  this  benevolent  purpose.  Large 
bodies  of  missionaries,  with  their  wives  and  families,  have 
been  annually  sent  out  by  Bible  and  other  Protestant 
societies,  to  evangelize  and  civilize  heathen  lands.  Not 
only  their  expenses  have  been  liberally  paid,  but  they 
have  had  handsome  salaries,  and  often  princely  establish- 
ments. But  what  have  they  done,  with  all  the  money 
that  has  been  thus  expended,  and  all  the  parade  that  has 
been  made,  on  the  subject  ? 

Quid 

Hie  faciei  tanio  dignum  promissor  hiaiu? 

Have  they  converted  07ie  nation  to  Christianity  ?  If 
they  have,  history  is  silent  as  to  its  locality.!  Much  was 
once  said  about  the  conversion  of  the  Sandwich  islands  by 
American  Protestant  missionaries  :  but  this  has  all  turned 
out,  like  other  similar  schemes  of  conversion,  a  miserable 
failure.     The  first  effect  of  Protestant  civilization  in  those 

*  See  article  Despatches  of  Hernando  Cortes,  in  the  North  American 
Review  for  October,  1843. 

t  See  most  abundant  evidence,  chiefly  from  Protestants  themselves, 
in  Dr.  Wiseman's  "  Lectures  on  the  Catholic  Religion,"  2  vols.  12mo. 
vol.  i,  lect.  vi. 


364 

islands  was  a  reduction  of  the  native  population  bj  more 
than  one  half:  the  next  was  the  enriching  of  the  mission- 
aries themselves,  a  very  usual  occurrence,  by  the  way, 
and  one  which  exhibits  the  chief  advantage  of  those  mission- 
ary enterprises  :  the  third  was  a  most  disgraceful  perse- 
cution of  brother  Christian  missionaries,  so  much  so  that 
a  Catholic  potentate  felt  him.self  called  on  to  interfere  ; 
and  the  last  effect  seems  to  have  been  an  almost  total 
abandonment  of  the  whole  undertaking.*  .  A  distinguished 
modern  writer!  has  well  remarked  that  the  Protestant 
sects  have  been  ever  doomed  to  sterility  since  their  di- 
vorce from  the  only  true  spouse  of  Christ — the  Catholic 
church. 

On  the  other  hand,  what  has  the  Catholic  church  done 
for  civilization  ?  AVhat  nations  has  she  converted  to 
Christianity  ?  We  may  answer  the  question  by  asking 
another.  What  nation  or  people  is  there,  of  all  those  on 
the  face  of  the  earth  who  have  entered  the  Christian  fold, 
which  she  has  not  been  mainly  instrumental  in  converting 
and  civilizing  }  Is  there  even  one?  What  says  faithful 
history  on  the  subject  ? 

During  the  first  four  centuries  of  Christianity,  the  prin- 
cipal nations  of  Europe,  as  well  as  many  of  those  of  Asia 
and  Africa,  had  been  converted  by  missionaries  sent 
either  directly  by  Rome,  or  at  least  in  communion  and 
acting  in  concert  with  the  Roman  see.  The  cross  of 
Christ  had  been  borne  in  triumph  to  the  most  remote  ex- 
tremities of  the  Roman  empire,  which  embraced  all  Eu- 
rope and  a  great  portion  of  Asia  and  Africa.  It  had  been 
planted  even  in  the  midst  of  people  who  were  beyond  the 
boundaries  of  the  vast  territory  ruled  by  Rome.  As  early 
as  the  close  of  the  second  century,  St.  Irenseus,  bishop  of 
Lyons,  could  say  in  triumph  that  many  barbarous  nations 
in  Germany  and  elsewhere,  over  whose  heads  the  Roman 

*  Ibid.     See  also  the  late  Catholic  papers  pass»?i. 
t  Count  De  Maistre — Du  Pape,  vol.  ii. 


INFLUENCE  OF  THE  REFORM  ON  CIVILIZATION.         565 

eagle  had  never  floated,  had  already  received  the  gospel, 
although  thej  were  unlettered  and  unacquainted  with  the 
uses  of  paper  and  ink,  TertuUian,  a  writer  who  flour- 
ished in  the  beginning  of  the  third  century,  could  also 
say,  in  a  defence  of  Christianity  addressed  to  the  Roman 
emperor  and  senate,  that  Christians  had  already  filled  the 
villages,  the  towns,  the  cities,  the  castles,  and  the  armies 
of  the  Roman  empire,  and  that  they  had  left  only  the 
temples  of  paganism  to  their  idolatrous  persecutors  ! 

In  the  fifth  and  sixth  centuries,  a  deluge  of  barbarism 
overwhelmed  the  Roman  empire  of  the  west,  which  was 
already  fast  verging  to  its  final  downfall.  The  ancient 
Roman  civilization  was  buried  under  its  turbid  waters. 
The  ark  of  the  church  alone  rode  in  safety  the  angry 
flood  :  and  when  its  waters  had  subsided,  the  tenants  of 
this  ark,  as  had  been  done  by  those  of  its  prototype  of 
old,  repeopled  the  earth.  In  it  were  preserved,  together 
with  Christianity,  the  seeds  of  a  new  civilization,  more 
refined  and  elevated  by  far  than  that  which  had  been 
swept  from  the  face  of  the  earth.  These  were  scattered 
broadcast  over  the  soil  of  the  world:  the  church  watered 
them  with  the  tears  of  her  maternal  solicitude,  and,  when 
they  had  sprung  up,  she  nurtured  the  plants  and  brought 
them  to  maturity.  Thus  to  her  alone  is  due  the  credit  of 
having  rescued  the  world  from  barbarism,  and  of  having 
again  carefully  collected  and  skilfully  put  together  the 
scattered  elements  of  the  new  civilization.  All  modern 
improvement  dates  back  to  this  era,  as  certainly  and  as 
necessarily  as  does  the  present  existence  and  extension 
of  the  human  race  to  the  epoch  of  the  deluge.  We  owe 
as  much  to  the  church  as  to  Noah's  ark. 

The  hordes  of  the  north,  who  had  trodden  in  the  dust 
the  Roman  empire  as  well  as  Christianity,  which  was 
grafted  thereon,  entered  themselves,  one  by  one,  into  the 
ample  fold  of  the  church.  The  fierce  conquerors  willingly 
bowed  their  necks  to  receive  the  yoke  of  the  conquered  ! 
Christianity  thus  triumphed,  like  her  divine  Founder,  by 


366  d'aitbigne's  history  reviewed. 

being  seemingly  conquered  for  a  time.  It  is  not  a  little 
remarkable,  too,  that  all  the  nations  of  the  north  were 
converted  bv  missionaries  sent  by  Rome. 

Ireland  was  the  first  to  enter  into  the  Christian  fold  : 
and  she  became  subsequently  a  principal  instrument  in 
the  hands  of  Providence  for  converting  the  other  northern 
nations.  She  had  never  bent  beneath  the  oppressive 
weight  of  the  Roman  power,  nor  had  she  been  instrumen- 
tal in  effecting  the  downfall  of  the  Roman  empire.  Yet 
was  she  the  first  nation  of  the  north  that  assumed  the 
sweet  yoke  of  Christ.  In  the  beginning  of  the  fifth  cen- 
tury, A.  D.  430,  Pope  Celestine  I  sent  St.  Patrick  into 
Ireland,  and  St.  Palladius  into  Scotland.  Towards  the 
close  of  the  same  century,  in  496,  St.  Remigius  baptized 
at  Rheims,  King  Clovis  and  three  thousand  officers  of  his 
army,  thus  laying  the  foundation  of  Christianity  in  France. 

Near  the  close  of  the  sixth  century,  A.D.  591,  Pope 
St.  Gregory  the  Great  sent  St.  Augustine  and  his  forty 
companions  into  England.  These  converted  the  kingdom 
of  Kent,  and  soon  all  England  followed  the  example.  lu 
the  seventh  century,  St.  Kilian,  sent  by  Pope  Conon, 
preached  the  gospel  in  Franconia ;  St.  Swidbert  and 
others  evangelized  Friesland,  Brabant,  Holland,  and 
lower  Germany;  and  St.  Rupert  became  the  apostle  of 
Bohemia.  In  the  eighth  century,  St.  Boniface,  sent  by 
Pope  Gregory  II,  719,  converted  the  Hessians,  Thurin- 
gians,  and  Bavarians,  and  suffered  martyrdom  at  length 
in  Friesland,  in  755^  with  fifty-two  of  his  companions. 
Saints  Corbinian,  Willibrord,  and  Vigilius  were  his  co- 
operators  in  the  apostleship. 

In  the  ninth  century,  St.  Adalbert  converted  Prussia: 
and  St.  Ludger  became  the  apostle  of  Saxony  and  West- 
phalia, and  died  bishop  of  Miinster.  In  the  same  age,  St. 
Anscarius,  archbishop  of  Hamburg  and  Bremen,  preached 
the  gospel  to  the  Danes,  and  planted  Christianity  in 
Sweden,  about  the  year  830.  About  the  same  period,  the 
two  brothers,  Saints  Methodius  and  Cyril,  with  the  sane- 


INFLUENCE  OF  THE  REFORM  ON  CIVILIZATION.  2G7 

tion  of  Pope  John  VIII,  converted  the  Sclavonians,  the 
Russians,  and  the  Moravians,  and  also  Michael,  king;  of 
the  Bulgarians.  In  the  tenth  century,  the  faith  was  ex- 
tended into  Muscovy,  Denmark,  Gothland,  Sweden,  and 
Poland.  The  Normans,  with  their  king,  Roland,  were 
converted  in  912;  and  the  Hungarians,  with  their  king, 
St.  Stephen,  embraced  Christianity  about  the  year  1002.* 

Thus  all  the  nations  of  Europe  were  successively  con- 
verted to  Christianity  by  the  agency  of  the  Roman  Cath- 
olic church,  and  by  missionaries  sent  by  Rome.  Their 
civilization  was  a  necessary  sequel  to  their  conversion. 
They  were  indebted  for  both  to  Rome,  This  was  espe- 
cially true  in  relation  to  the  German  nations.  We  have 
seen  above  the  avowal  of  M.  D'Aubigne  himself  on  this 
subject.  As  M.  Audin  well  remarks,  •' it  was  religion 
that  had  softened  the  savage  manners  of  its  inhabitants, 
cleared  its  forests,  peopled  its  solitudes,  and  aided  in 
throwing  off  the  yoke  of  the  Romans.  Whatever  poetry, 
music,  or  intellectual  culture  it  possessed  when  Luther 
appeared,  it  owed  to  its  ancient  bishops.  The  feudal 
tree  had  first  flourished  on  its  soil.  It  had  its  electors, 
dukes,  barons,  who  were  often  bishops  or  archbishops.  Of 
all  the  European  states,  it  was  the  one  in  which  the  influ- 
ence of  the  papacy  had  been  most  vividly^felt."! 

He  might  have  added  that  whatever  of  liberty  it  pos- 
sessed, it  had  also  derived  from  Rome.  She  had  abol- 
ished the  serf  system,  had  opened  sanctuaries  for  the 
oppressed,  had  proscribed  the  trial  by  ordeal,  and  had 
substituted  for  it  a  more  rational  system  of  judicature. 
She  had  purified  and  elevated  the  old  German  jurispru- 
dence by  the  provisions  of  her  canon  law ;  and,  by  de- 
claring the  oppressed  and  crushed  subject  free  from  the 
obligation  of  his  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  oppressor,  she 
had  broken  his  bonds,  and  taught  him  his  political  rights* 

*  See  Church  Historians, /jassnn. 
J  Life  of  Luther,  sxip.  cit.  p.  343,  344. 


368  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

In  a  word,  Rome  was,  for  Germany  more  especially,  the 
centre  of  civilization,  and  tlie  point  from  which  enlight- 
enment radiated  throughout  her  territory. 

The  deluge  of  barbarian  invasion  having  subsided,  and 
the  barbarians  tliemselves  having  been  converted  to  Chris- 
tianity, a  new  and  most  appalling  danger  threatened  Eu- 
ropean civilization,  nay,  the  independence  and  the  very 
existence  of  Europe.  The  Mohammedan  imposture,  com- 
mencing at  Mecca  in  the  year  622,  had  rapidly  overspread 
a  great  part  of  Asia  and  Africa,  and  had  penetrated  into 
Europe,  through  Spain,  as  early  as  the  year  711.  In  the 
east  it  menaced  Constantinople,  the  capital  of  the  Greek 
empire  ;  in  the  south  and  west  it  threatened  more  nearly 
European  independence.  Masters  of  northern  Africa, 
of  Spain,  and  of  the  Mediterranean,  the  followers  of  Mo- 
hammed were  ready  to  penetrate  into  Europe  on  all  sides, 
with  the  scimitar  in  one  hand,  and  the  Koran  in  the  other. 
The  consequences  of  their  successful  incursion  would 
have  been,  what  they  had  been  every  where  else,  the  ruin 
of  literature  and  liberty,  the  destruction  of  Christianity 
and  civilization,  and  wide-spread  ruin  and  desolation. 
Wherever  they  had  penetrated,  they  had  blighted  every 
flower,  and  plucked  every  fruit  of  the  existing  civiliza- 
tion. The  once  flourishing  provinces  of  Asia  and  Africa, 
which  had  been  forced  to  wear  their  iron  yoke,  riveted 
on  their  necks,  had  relapsed  into  a  state  of  barbarism, 
from  which,  alas  !  they  are  not  yet  recovered. 

In  this  emergency,  what  saved  European  civilization 
and  independence  ?  What  agency  kept  off  the  impend- 
ing storm  ?  The  church  and  the  Roman  pontiifs.  The 
latter,  by  their  influence,  succeeded  in  arousing  Europe 
from  its  letliargy,  and  in  awakening  her  to  a  lively  sense 
of  the  threatened  danger.  They  persuaded  Christians  to 
bury  their  private  feuds,  to  be  united  as  one  man,  and  to 
rally  in  their  united  strength  for  the  defence  of  the  cross 
against  the  invading  hosts  marshalled  under  the  crescent. 
Long  and  fiercely  raged  the  struggle — Christianity,  civil- 


INFLUENCE  OF  THE  REFORM  ON  CIVILIZATION.  SG9 

ization,  enlightenment  and  liberty,  and  the  cross,  on  tlie 
one  hand,  and  Mohammedanism,  barbarism,  ignorance, 
despotism,  and  the  crescent,  on  the  other. 

The  first  check  given  to  Mohammedan  conquest  was  in 
the  famous  victory  gained  over  the  followers  of  the  cres- 
cent by  Charles  Martel,  at  the  head  of  the  French  chiv- 
alry, near  Tours,  in  l^'l.  The  closing  events  of  the  pro- 
tracted struggle  were  equally  glorious  for  the  Christian 
cause.  The  battle  of  Lepanto,  in  1571,  crippled  the 
energies  of  the  Turks,  by  destroying  their  whole  fleet, 
and  the  relief  of  Vienna,  besieged  by  the  Turkish  army 
in  1683,  by  the  brave  Sobieski,  at  the  head  of  his  thirty 
thousand  Poles,  drove  the  Mohammedans  from  Europe, 
and  cut  off  all  hopes  of  any  farther  European  conquests 
by  their  armies. 

The  popes  were  the  very  soul  of  all  Christian  enter- 
prises for  repelling  Turkish  invasion.  It  was  they  who 
first  conceived  that  master-stroke  of  policy  which,  through 
the  crusades,  carried  the  war  into  the  enemies'  country, 
and  for  centuries  gave  them  enough  to  do  at  home,  with- 
out thinking  of  foreign  conquests.  It  was  they  who 
united  Europe,  for  the  first  time,  in  one  great  cause.  It 
was  Pope  St.  Pius  V  who  deserved  the  chief  credit  of  the 
signal  victory  at  Lepanto. 

.  It  was  they  who  ennobled  chivalry,  and  consecrated 
valor,  for  the  defence  of  Christian  Europe.  It  was  they 
who  nerved  for  battle  the  arms  of  the  brave  knights  of 
Rhodes  and  Malta,  and  inspired  the  heroism  of  the  Hun- 
niades,  of  the  Scanderbergs,  of  the  Cids,  of  the  Bouil- 
lons, and  the  Tancreds,  and  of  others,  who  won  imperish- 
able laurels  in  that  struggle.  But  for  their  exertions,  and 
the  blessings  of  that  God  who  had  promised  that  "  the 
gates  of  hell  should  not  prevail  against  his  church  built 
on  a  rock,"  Europe  would  in  every  human  probability 
have  become,  what  Asia  and  Africa  have  Jong  been,  a 
mere  degraded  province  of  a  colossal  Mohammedan  em- 


S70  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

pire,  which  would  have  bestrode  the  earth,  crushing  be- 
neath its  weight  every  principle  of  civilization  ! 

Did  the  reformation  win  any  laurels  in  this  contest  ? 
Did  it  strike  one  blow  for  the  independence  of  Europe 
against  the  Turks,  who,  when  it  first  appeared,  were  at 
the  very  zenith  of  their  power,  and  were  assuming  the 
most  threatening  attitude  against  Europe  ?  We  will  give 
a  few  facts  which  will  show  the  spirit  of  early  Protestant- 
ism on  the  subject. 

Among  the  articles  which  Luther  obstinately  refused 
to  retract  at  the  diet  of  Worms,  in  1521,  was  this  strange 
and  impious  paradox  :  *'  that  to  war  against  the  Turks  is 
to  oppose  God  !"*  In  his  fierce  invective  against  the 
conciliatory  decree  which  emanated  from  the  diet  of  Nu- 
remberg in  1524,  he  thus  castigates  the  princes  who  had 
composed  diat  diet :  **  Christians,  I  beg  of  you,  raise  your 
hands,  and  pray  for  these  blind  princes,  with  whom  hea- 
ven punishes  us  in  its  wrath.  Give  not  alms  against  the 
Turk,  who  is  a  thousand  times  wiser  and  more  pious  than 
our  princes.  What  success  can  such  fools,  who  rebel 
against  Christ  and  despise  his  word,  hope  in  the  war 
against  the  Turks  .^"t 

This  warning  was  directed  against  the  decree  of  the 
Diet,  which,  alarmed  by  the  menacing  attitude  of  the 
sublime  Porte,  *'  had  demanded  and  voted  subsidies  for  the 
war  against  the  Turks.  The  Catholics  contributed,  the 
Protestants  refused  ;  but  the  contributions  of  the  Catho- 
lics were  not  sufficient  to  arrest  the  progress  of  Soliman. 
At  the  head  of  two  hundred  thousand  men,  he  advanced 
into  Hungary,  and  on  the  26th  of  September,  1529,  he 
was  about  to  plant  his  ladders  against  the  walls  of  Vienna. 

*  "  Praeiiari  adversus  Turcas  est  repugnare  Deo."  Assertio  arlicu- 
lorum  per  Leonem  damnatorum.  0pp.  Lutheri,  torn,  ii,  p.  3.  Audin, 
p.  174. 

t  Luther  Werke,  ch.  xv,  p.  2,  712.  Adolph  Menzel,  torn,  i,  p.  155 
seq.  Apud  Audin,  p.  2S6.  See  also  Cochlasus  in  Acta  Lutheri,  folio 
116. 


INFLUENCE  OF  THE  REFORM  ON  CIVILIZATION.  371 

This  cowardly  abandonment  of  their  brethren  is  an  inef- 
faceable stain  on  the  Protestant  party.  At  the  approacli 
of  the  enemy,  who  threatened  the  cross  of  Christ,  all  dis- 
union should  have  ceased.  The  countfy  was  in  danger; 
the  Christian  name  was  on  the  point  of  being  blotted  out 
from  Germany;  and  Islamism  would  have  triumphed,  had 
there  not  been  brave  hearts  behind  the  walls  which  the 
treachery  of  their  brethren  had  laid  bare.  Honor  then  to 
those  valiant  chiefs,  Philip  Count  Palatine,  Nicholas  von 
Salm,  William  von  Regendorf,  and  that  population  of 
aged  men,  of  women,  and  of  children,  who,  although  suf- 
fering from  famine,  sickness  and  pestilence — for  all  seemed 
united  to  overwhelm  them — did  not  despair,  but  drove 
back  to  Constantinople  the  army  of  Soliman.  After  God, 
they  owed  their  success  to  their  valor;  for  the  Emperor, 
the  empire,  and  the  princes  had  abandoned  them.  Luther 
had  cried  aloud  *  peace  to  the  Turks  ;'  and  his  voice  was 
more  powerful  than  the  cry  of  their  weeping  country,  and 
of  the  cross  of  Christ.  The  reader  must  judge  between 
the  reformed  and  the  Catholics,  and  say,  in  what  veins 
Christian  blood  flowed."* 

Subsequently  indeed,  when  the  danger  was  passed,  and 
Luther  had  little  to  apprehend  from  the  Emperor  or  the 
Catholic  party,  he  retracted  his  wild  paradoxes,  and  ceased 
to  be  the  apologist  of  the  Turks.  But  who  thanked  him 
for  this  tardy  and  compulsory  advocacy  of  European  inde- 
pendence against  Turkish  invasion  ^  All  that  it  demon- 
strated was  his  own  utter  inconsistency  in  the  whole 
affair,  in  which  he  did  but  act  out  his  general  character, — 
as  a  mere  creature  of  impulse  and  of  passion. 

Erasmus  thus  twits  the  Protestant  party  on  their  con- 
duct in  the  matter :  "  But  you  seem  to  forget  that  you  re- 
fused to  give  Charles  V,  and  Ferdinand,  the  subsidies  ne- 
cessary for  the  war  against  the  Turks,  according  to  the 
doctrine  of  Luther,  who  now  however  condescends  to  re- 

*  Audin,  p.  289,  290. 


372  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

tract !  Have  not  the  gospellers  advanced  tlie  startling 
proposition,  '  that  it  is  better  to  fight  for  the  unbaptized^ 
than  for  the  baptized,  Turk,'  that  is,  for  the  Emperor  ?  Is 
it  not  truly  ridiculous?"*  It  was  something  more  than 
"  ridiculous" — which  was  the  strongest  epithet  the  Bata- 
vian  philosopher  could  employ — it  was  utterly  treacher- 
ous and  lamentable;  and  if  European  civilization  was 
still  saved,  and  European  independence  preserved,  we 
certainly  owe  no  thanks  to  the  reformation !  If  we  are 
still  free  ;  if  we  are  not  ground  down  by  Turkish  tyranny ; 
if  we  bow  to  the  cro^  instead  of  the  crescent ;  we  owe 
no  gratitude  for  these  results  to  the  Protestant  party  ! 
Their  sympathies  were  manifestly  Mohammedan  ;  they 
would  have  rejoiced  at  the  ascendency  of  Islamism,  pro- 
vided the  Pope  and  his  adherents  could  have  been  crushed 
and  annihilated  !  They  shared  in  none  of  the  laurels  won 
for  European  independence  and  civilization,  at  Lepanto, 
under  the  walls  of  Vienna,  in  Hungary,  in  Poland,  in  Al- 
bania, or  at  Rhodes  and  Malta  ^  Their  chivalry  could  not 
be  awakened,  nor  their  sympathies  stirred  up  by  any  such 
brilliant  achievements  1  And  yet  M.  D'Aubigne  gravely 
assures  us,  that  "the  reformation  saved  religion,  and 
through  it  society  ?"t  Deliver  us  from  such  a  *'  salvation  !" 
We  have  already  said  something  on  the  character  of  the 
bloody  civil  wars  with  which  the  reformation  desolated 
Germany.  We  compared  the  multitude  of  devastating 
armies,  which  it  let  loose  on  Europe,  to  those  which  had 
desolated  her  fair  provinces  in  the  fifth  and  sixth  centu- 
ries. This  parallel  is  not  exaggerated  :  it  is  founded  on 
the  sad  records  of  history.  In  reading  of  the  dreadfuJ 
tragedies  enacted  in  the  war  of  the  peasants  and  of  the 
Anabaptists,  in  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  we  are  forcibly 
reminded  of  the  devastations  which  the  early  northmen 
left  in  their  course.     Especially  does  the  parallel  hold 

*  "In  Pseudo-Evangelicos"  Epist.  47,  Lib.  xxxi.— Edit,  of  London, 
Flesher.  t  Vol.  i,  p.  67,  sup.  ciiai. 


INFLUENCE  OF  THE  REFORM  ON  CIVILIZATION.  373 

good,  in  respect  to  the  ravaging  of  Italy  and  Rome  by  the 
Lutheran  troops  under  the  Constable  Bourbon,  referred 
to  above.  Miinzer,  Storck  and  Stiibner  strongly  remind 
us  of  Attila,  Totila,  and  Genseric.  All  were,  if  not  *'  the 
scourges  of  God,"  at  least,  in  another  sense,  the  scourges 
oj  man  and  of  society.  They  were  all  tierce  wild  animals 
let  loose  for  a  time  to  devastate  the  blooming  garden  of 
European  civilization. 

The  following  address  ofMiinzerto  his  associates  in 
rebellion,  we  give  as  one  out  of  the  many  similar  speci- 
mens of  the  infuriate  vandalism  of  the  sixteenth  century. 
•'  Ave  you  then  asleep,  my  brethren  !  Come  to  the  fight, 
the  fight  of  heroes.  All  Frankonia  has  risen  up :  the 
Master  will  now  show  himself:  the  wicked  shall  fall.  At 
Fulda,  in  Easter  week,  foiir  pestiferous  churches  were 
destroyed.  The  peasants  of  Klegan  have  taken  up  arms. 
Although  you  were  but  three  confessors  of  Jesus,  you 
would  not  have  to  fear  a  hundred  thousand  enemies. 
Draw,  draw,  draw — now  is  the  time:  the  impious  shall  be 
chased  like  dogs.  No  mercy  for  those  atheists  :  they  will 
beset  you  ;  they  will  blubber  like  children — but  spare 
them  not.  It  is  the  command  of  God  by  Moses  (v.  7). — 
Draw,  draw,  draw— the  fire  burns  ;  let  not  the  blood  grow 
cold  on  your  sword-blades.  Pink,  pank,  on  the  anvil  of 
Nimrod:  let  the  towers  fall  under  your  stroke.  Draw, 
draw,  draw — now  is  the  day:  God  leads  you  on  ;  follow 
Him."* 

Schiller,  a  Protestant,  has  most  graphically  painted  the 
horrors  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  and  the  desolation 
which  it  occasioned  in  Germany.  The  master  mind  of 
Schlegel  thus  traces  its  effects  on  civilization :  *'  Never 
was  there  a  religious  war  so  widely  extended  and  so  com- 
plicated in  its  operations,  so  protracted  in  its  duration, 
and  entailing  misery  on  so  many  generations.  That  pe- 
riod of  thirty  years'  havoc,  in  which  the  earZy  civilization, 

*  Luther  Werke— Edit.  Altenburg,  iii  vol.  p.  134.    Menzel,  p.  200-2. 
32 


374 

and  the  noblest  energies  of  Germany  were  destroyed,  forms 
in  history  the  great  wall  of  separation  between  the  ancient 
Germany,  which  in  the  middle  age  was  the  most  powerful, 
flourishing,  and  wealthy  country  in  Europe  ;  and  the  new 
Germany  of  recent  and  happier  times,  which  is  now  gradu- 
ally recovering  from  her  longexhaustion  and  general  deso- 
lation ;  and  is  rising  again  into  light  and  life  from  the 
sepulchral  darkness — the  night  of  death,  to  which  her 
ancient  disputes  had  consigned  her."*  Tt  required  full 
two  centuries  for  Germany  to  recover  from  the  blow  to 
her  civilization,  dealt  her  by  the  ruthless  reformation! 
Even  JM.  Villers,  the  champion  laureate  of  the  reforma- 
tion, is  compelled  to  admit,  that  "  the  Thirty  Years'  War 
left  Germany  in  a  sort  of  stupor — in  a  barbarism  almost 
total."t 

From  the  fiicts  hitherto  alleged,  the  reader  will  be  en- 
abled to  judge  what  was  the  relative  influence  on  civiliza- 
tion of  early  Catholicism  and  of  the  reformation.  He 
will  also  be  able  to  gather  the  more  immediate  influence 
of  the  latter  revolution  on  civilization  in  Germany — its 
cradle  and  first  theatre  of  action.  To  estimate  this  influ- 
ence, however,  more  nearly  and  more  correctly,  we  must 
see  what  was  the  condition  of  Germany  in  regard  to  civi- 
lization before,  and  what  it  became  immediately  after,  the 
reformation. 

Before  it,  a  general  peace  reigned  :  the  elements  of 
civilized  life  were  all  in  a  state  of  healthy  growth  and  of 
rapid  development :  every  thing  bade  fair  for  a  very  high 
state  of  refinement  and  civilization.  For  the  development 
of  these,  peace  is  as  necessary,  as  it  is  for  the  cultivation 
of  letters.  M.  D'Aubigne  himself  speaks  of  the  great 
advantages  to  civilization  of  the  general  peace  secured  to 
Germany  in  1496,  by  the  wise  policy  of  the  Emperor  Maxi- 
milian.    *' For  a  long  time,"    he  says,    *' the  numerous 

*  "Philosophy  of  History,"  vol.  ii,  p.  232,  American  Edit, 
t  "  Essai  sur  i'esprit  et  I'influence  de  la  reform,  de  Luther,"  p.  274. 
Apud  Robelot,  p.  392. 


INFLUENCE    OF  THE  REFORM  ON  CIVILIZATION.  S75 

members  of  the  Germanic  body  had  labored  to  disturb 
each  other.  Nothing  had  been  seen  but  confusions,  quar- 
rels, wars  incessantly  breaking  out  between  neighbors, 
cities  and  chiefs.  Maximilian  had  laid  a  solid  basis  of 
public  order,  by  instituting  the  Imperial  Chamber  ap- 
pointed to  settle  all  differences  between  the  States.  The 
Germans,  after  so  many  confusions  and  anxieties,  saw  a 
new  era  of  safety  and  repose.  The  condition  of  affairs 
powerfully  contributed  to  harmonize  the  public  mind.  It 
was  now  possible  in  the  cities  and  peaceful  valleys  of 
Germany  to  seek  and  adopt  ameliorations,  which  discord 
might  have  banished.'*'*' 

He  continues,  with  not  a  little  simpUciitj :  "we  may 
add,  that  it  is  in  the  bosom  of  peace,  that  the  Gospel  loves 
most  to  gain  its  blessed  victories."!  He  means  this  of 
course  for  the  *'  gospel"  of  Luther — but  did  not  this  same 
"gospel,"  break  in,  with  its  accents  of  discord,  and  its 
fierce  spirit  of  feud  and  bloodshed,  upon  the  general  peace, 
secured  to  Germany  by  a  Catholic  potentate,  in  Catholic 
times  ?  Did  it  not  by  its  truculent  war-cry,  mar  the  lovely 
beauty  of  their  peaceful  scene  .^  Did  it  not  ruthlessly  rend 
with  dissension  that  "  public  mind"  which  before  so  beau- 
tifully '*  harmonized  ?"  Did  it  not  evoke  from  the  abyss 
that  fell  spirit  of  "discord,"  which  "banished  from  the 
cities  and  peaceful  valleys  of  Germany,"  all  relish  for 
"  seeking  and  adopting  ameliorations"  in  the  social  condi- 
tion ?  Did  it  not,  for  more  than  a  century,  tear  and  deso- 
late society  with  civil  feuds  and  bloody  wars  }  And  is 
it  not  supremely  ridiculous,  as  Erasmus  says,  to  hear  men 
of  sense  thus  uttering  absurdities  which  they  themselves 
supply  evidence  for  refuting?  From  the  principles  laid 
down  by  M.  D'Aubigne,  it  is  intuitively  evident,  that  the 
reformation  of  Luther  was  highly  injurious  in  its  influence 
on  the  progress  of  civilization. 
.  What  have  been  the  great  results  of  Protestant  and  of 

*  Vol.  i,  p.  76,  77.  t  Ibid. 


376  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

Catholic  influence  on  modern  civilization  ?  What  is  the 
present  relative  social  condition  of  Catholic  and  of  Pro- 
testant countries  in  Europe  ?  In  some  respects,  we  are 
free  to  avow,  the  latter  are  far  in  advance  of  the  former. 
They  have  adopted  with  more  eagerness,  and  carried  out 
with  more  success,  what  may  be  called  the  utilitarian  sys- 
tem, which  in  fact  owes  its  origin  to  the  reformation. 
They  excel  in  commerce  and  speculation,  in  which  they 
have  greatly  outwitted  their  more  simple — perhaps  because 
more  honest  neighbors.  They  far  excel  in  stock-jobbing, 
and  in  all  the  mysteries  of  the  *'  Exchange."  They  sur- 
pass in  banking,  and  have  issued  many  more  notes  *'  pro- 
mising to  pay,"  than  their  neighbors  :  though  these  latter, 
especially  in  Spain,  seldom  fail  to  pay  without  any  **  pro- 
mises" to  that  effect ;  nor  have  they  ever  been  known  to 
redeem' their  pledges  by  bankruptcy  or  repudiation — an 
easy  modern  method  to  pay  old  debts  ! 

Protestant  countries  have  also  published  more  books  on 
political  economy  and  '*  the  wealth  of  nations  :"  they 
have  also  excelled  in  manufactures  and  in  machinery. 
But  the  modern  utilitarian  plan  of  conducting  the  latter, 
in  England  more  particularly,  has  contributed  not  a  little 
to  empoverish  and  debase  the  lower  orders  of  the  people — 
which,  however,  according  to  the  doctrine  of  that  most 
fashionable  theory,  is  not  at  all  opposed  to  the  **  wealth 
of  nations ;"  for  this  is  entirely  compatible  with  the  gen- 
eral poverty  of  the  masses  ! 

But  in  enlightenment  of  mind,  and  in  gentleness  of 
manners — in  the  general  features  and  in  the  suavity  of 
social  intercourse — do  Protestant  countries  in  Europe — 
for  we  wish  not  here  to  speak  of  our  own  country,  which 
is  not  strictly  Protestant — really  surpass  Catholic  nations? 
We  think  not.  We  believe  the  balance  would  rather  in- 
cline in  favor  of  the  latter.  AVe  have  shown,  that  in 
point  of  general  learning  and  enlightenment.  Catholic 
countries  compare  most  advantageously  with  those  that 
are  Protestant.     This  we  think  we  have  established  on 


CONCLUSION. 


unexceptionable  Protestant  authority.  In  point  of  refine- 
ment and  polish  of  manners,  Catholic  France  is  avowedlj' 
in  advance  of  all  other  nations.  The  Spanish  gentleman 
is  perhaps  the  noblest  and  best  type  of  elevated  human 
nature.  The  warm-hearted,  courteous,  and  refined  po- 
liteness of  Italy  and  Ireland,  compares  most  favorably 
with  the  coldness  and  the  blunt  selfishness  of  Germany 
and  England. 

In  a  word,  the  South  of  Europe,  which  has  continued 
under  Catholic  influence,  will  suffer  nothing  by  being 
brought  into  comparison,  in  regard  to  all  the  features  of  re- 
fined intercourse,  with  the  cold,  calculating  North,  which 
has,  to  a  great  extent,  embraced  the  doctrines  of  the  re- 
formation. Though  not  illumined  with  the  new  "north- 
ern light"  which  has  fitfully  shone  on  the  minds  of  the 
Protestants,  for  three  centuries,  they  are  still,  to  say  the 
least,  as  enlightened,  as  polished,  as  refined,  and  as  highly 
civilized,  as  their  more  fortunate  neighbors.  The  steady 
old  light  of  Catholicism,  which  shed  its  blessed  rays  on 
their  forefathers,  has  been  luminous  enough  to  guide  their 
path  ! 


CONCLUSION. 

We  have  now  completed  our  task ;  how  well,  the 
public  will  best  judge.  We  have  examined  the  principal 
false  statements  of  M.  D'Aubigne ;  and,  in  doing  so,  we 
have  also  glanced  occasionally  at  his  frequent  inconsisten- 
cies and  absurdities.  To  have  followed  him  in  detail 
throughout  his  tedious  history — to  have  convicted  him  of 
unfair  or  false  statements  on  almost  every  page — to  have 
unmasked  his  hypocrisy  and  laid  bare  his  contradictions- 
would  have  imposed  on  us  an  almost  endless  labor.  Yet 
this  would  have  been  less  difficult  perhaps  than  the  task 
we  have  performed.  For  it  is  much  easier  to  grapple  with 
32* 


378  d'aubigne's  history  reviewed. 

an  adversary,  page  by  page,  and  sentence  by  sentence ; 
than  to  cull  out  from  his  pages,  and  to  refute,  such  general 
misstatements  as  are  of  most  importance,  and  as  cover  the 
whole  ground  of  the  controversy.  The  former  method  is 
a  kind  of  light  skirmishing ;  the  latter  is  a  more  serious 
and  weighty  species  of  warfare. 

We  hope  that,  when  another  cheap  edition  of  M.  D'Au- 
bigne's  *'  history  of  the  great  reformation"  will  appear, 
in  three  volumes  duodecimo,  this  Review  %i  it — which 
will  make  a  volume  to  match — will  be  also  republished, 
as  the  fourth  of  the  series.  This  is  the  highest  object  of 
our  ambition.  The  readers  would  then,  at  least,  have  an 
opportunity  of  seeing  both  sides  of  a  very  important 
question,  involving  their  interests  for  time  and  eternity ! 

Though  we  have  been  compelled  to  allege  strong  facts 
and  to  use  plain  language,  yet  we  hope  we  have  carefully 
abstained  from  employing  any  epithets  unnecessarily  harsh 
or  offensive.  God  is  our  witness,  that  we  have  not  meant 
wantonly  to  wound  the  feelings  of  any  one.  Deeply  as 
we  feel,  and  sincerely  as  we  deplore,  the  evils  of  which 
the  reformation  has  been  the  cause — the  unsettling  of 
faith,  the  numberless  sects,  the  bitter  and  acrimonious 
disputes,  and  the  consequent  rending  of  society  into 
warring  elements — yet  do  we  feel  convinced,  that  all 
these  crying  evils,  which  originated  in  a  spirit  of  hatred 
and  revolt,  can  be  healed  only  by  the  contrary  principle 
of  love  and  charity. 

Fain  would  we  pour  oil  on  the  bleeding  wounds  of  a  di- 
vided and  lacerated  Christianity.  Fain  would  we  contri- 
bute our  humble  mite  to  bind  up  those  wounds,  and  to 
bring  back  that  charming  religious  harmony  which  once 
blessed  the  world.  The  bitter  experience  of  three  centu- 
ries has  proved,  that  a  re-union  among  Christians  cannot 
be  brought  about,  but  by  a  return  to  the  bosom  of  the 
Catholic  church,  of  those  who,  in  an  evil  hour  for  them- 
selves and  for  the  world,  strayed  from  its  pale.  It  is  only 
in  the  "old  paths,"  hallowed  by  the  footsteps  of  martyrs, 


CONCLUSION.  279 

of  saints  and  of  virgins,  that  perfect  peace  and  security 
can  be  found.  To  all  the  lovers  of  unity,  we  would  then 
say  in  the  words  of  God's  plaintive  prophet:  "Thus  saith 
the  Lord :  stand  ye  on  the  ways,  and  see,  and  ask  for  the 
old  paths,  which  is  the  good  way,  and  walk  ye  in  it;  and 
you  shall  find  refreshment  to  your  souls."* 

"  Refreshment"  and  peace  can  be  found  no  where  else. 
All  other  expedients  for  re-establishing  religious  union  on 
a  solid  basis,  have  been  tried  in  vain.  It  is  only  in  com- 
munion with  the  Chair  of  Peter — the  rock  on  which  Christ 
built  His  church — that  Christians  can  be  secured  in  unity 
and  peace. 

"  That  no  lambkin  might  wander  in  error  benighted. 

But  homeward  the  true  path  may  hold, 
The  Redeemer  ordained  that  in  one  faith  united. 

One  Shepherd  shall  govern  the  fold." 

*  Jeremiah  vi,  16. 


UNITED  STATES  CATHOLIC  BOOKSTORE. 

OFFICE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  CATHOLIC  IVIAGAZINE, 
146  Market  street,   Baltimore. 

JOIIM    MURPHY, 

Printer,  Publisherj  and  Catholic  Bookseller, 

Would  most  respectfully  inform  the  Kiglit  Rev.  Ri^hops,  the  Rev.  Clergy,  and  Laity 
of  the  United  Si.ites,  that  lie  lias  rt'cenlly  adthd  to  his  former  business  (Printing) 
a  BOOK   STOKE  ajid  iiOUK  151NDKKV,  which  are  conducted  in  eoni-eciion  with 

ONE    OF    THE    MOST    COMPtETK    AND    E.XTEN-IVK    IM'.INIING    b  S  TABUbllM  tNTS    IN    THE 

COUNTRY,  under  the  same  roof,  and  under  his  own  immediate  supeiintcndence.  To 
such  as  contemplate  Printing  or  Publishing,  the  advantages  resulting  from  this  com- 
bination enable  him  to  offer  inducements,  pecuniary  and  otherwise,  not  attainable 
under  other  circumstances.  His  facilities,  in  point  of  room  and  uiatenals,  are  such 
as  will  enable  him  to  execute  all  orders  in  his  line  in  the  neatest  manner,  al  short 
notice,  and  on  the  most  accommodating  terms.  He  tenOers  his  services  to  the  pub- 
lic under  the  assurance  that  no  effort  will  be  wantinsj  on  his  part  lo  furnish  such 
orders  as  he  may  receive,  either  for  Printing  or  Books,  in  a  sati.-faclory  manner. 
Good  Articles,  Low  Prices,  and  Puncti'ality  may  be  relied  on. 

A  GENERAL  ASSORTMENT  OF 

School  &  Miscellaneous  Books,  Stationery,  &c. 

KEPT     CONSTANTLY     ON     HAND. 

LIST  OF  CATHOLIC  BOOKS  PUBLISHED  AND  FOR  SALE  AS  ABOVE. 

These  works  are  all  done  up  in  good  style,  and  will  be  furnished  to  Booksellers, 
Clergymen,  Religious  Institutions,  and  Country  Merchants,  in  quantities,  at  Iha 
usual  discount. 

A  REVIEW  OF  D'AUBIGNE'S  HISTORY  OF  THE  REFORM- 
ATION IN  GERMANY  AND  SWITZERLAND,  or  the  Reforma- 
tion in  Germany  examined  in  its  Instruments,  Causes,  and  Manner, 
and  its  Influence  on  Religion,  on  Government,  on  Literature,  and  on 
general  Civilization.  By  M.  J.  Spalding,  D.D.  1  vol.  12mo.  cloth 
stamped 75 

ST.  BONAVENTURE'S  LIFE  OF  OUR  LORD  AND  SAVIOUR 
JESUS  CHRIST,  translated  from  the  Latin.  To  which  are  added 
the  Devotion  to  the  three  hours' agony  of  our  Lord  on  the  Cross; 
and  the  Life  of  the  glorious  St.  Joseph.  1  vol.  18mo.  360  pp.  full 
bound  in  sheep 50 

cloth 50 

fine  paper,  roan - 75 

TRAVELS  OF  AN  IRISH  GENTLEMAN  IN  SEARCH  OF  A 
RELIGION,  1  vol.  12mo.  full  bound,  cloth,  with  a  neat  and  appro- 
priate stamp 75 

BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE  MOST  REV.  JOHN  CAR- 
ROLL,  first  Archbishop  of  Baltimore,  1  vol.  12mo.  with  a  portrait, 
full  bound,  cloth 1  00 

A  CONFERENCE  ON  THE  AUTHORITY  OF  THE  CHURCH, 
held  March  1st,  1679,  between  James  Benignus  Bossuet,  Bishop 
of  Condom  (afterwards  of  Meaux),  and  John  Claude,  Calvinist 
Minister  at  Charenton  ;  together  with  Reflections  on  a  Treatise  by 
M.  Claude,  by  the  Bishop  of  Condom.  First  American,  from  the 
last  London  edition.     1  vol.  8vo.  bound  in  boards 60 


3  LIST   OF   CHEAP   CATHOLIC    BOOKS 

HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE  AND  WRITINGS  OF  MARTIN  LU- 
THER, by  J.  M.  V.  AuDiN.     Translated  from  the  French.     1  vol. 

8vo.  full  bound,  sheep 2  25 

LETTERS  OF  THE  LATE  BISHOP  ENGLAND  TO  THE  HON. 
JOHN  FORSYTH,  on  the  subject  of  Domestic  Slavery,  to  which 
are  prefixed,  in  Latin  and  English,  copies  of  the  Pope's  Apostolical 
Letter  concerning  the  African  Slave  Trade.  With  some  Introduc- 
tory Remarks,  &c-,  by  William  Geo.  Read,  Esq.     1  vol.  8vo.  fancy 

paper 37 

full  bound,  cloth 50 

INSTRUCTIONS  ON  THE  DOCTRINES,  DUTIES,  AND  RE- 
SOURCES  OF  THE  CATHOLIC  RELIGION.    By  Rev.  Jas. 

Appleton-.     12mo 75 

THE  BOOK  OF  THE  ROMAN  CATHOLIC  CHURCH.  By 

Charles  Butler,  Esq.     12mo.  boards 50 

THE  FOLLOWING  OF  CHRIST,  in  four  books,  to  which  are  added 
Practical  Reflections  and  a  Prayer  at  the  end  of  each  chapter,  trans- 
lated from  the  French  by  the  Rev.  James  Jones.     32mo.  520  pp. 

cloth 25 

on  fine  paper,  full  bound,  sheep, 38 

roan 50 

roan,  gilt 1  00 

Turkey  morocco,  super  extra  gilt 2  00 

RELIGIOUS  CABINET  lor  1842,  full  bound,  sheep 4  00 

cloth 3  75 

boards 3  50 

U.  STATES  CATHOLIC  MAGAZINE,  1843,  sheep 4  00 

cloth 3  75 

boards 3  50 

CONCILIA  PROVINCIALIA;  Baltimori  habita  ab  anno  1829,  usque 

ad  annum  1841.    1  vol.  8vo.  boards 1  00 

The  same  with  Concilium  Provinciale  Baltimorense  Quintum,  habitum 

anno  1843,  added 1  25 

The  same,  roan,  gilt 2  00 

Turkey  morocco,  super  extra 2  50 

CONCILIUM   PROVINCIALE    BALTIMORENSE    QUINTUM, 

habitum  anno  1S43,  to  match  Concilia  Provincialia 25 

COMPENDIUM  RITUALIS  ROMANI,  ad  usum  Dicecesum  Provin- 
ciae  Baltimorensis,  jussu  Concilii  Provincialis  Baltimorensis  iii,  ap- 
probante  SS.  D.  N.  Gregorio  PP.  XVI,  editum  12mo.  sheep,  rolled 

edges,  raised  bands 1  50 

roan,  gilt  edges 1  50 

Turkey  morocco,  super  extra  gilt 2  50 

EXCERPTA  EX  RITUALI  ROMANO  pro  administratione  Sacra- 
mentorum,  ad  Commodiorem  Missionariorum  Dicecesum  Provinciae 
Baltimorensis  usum,  juxta  Decretum  Concilii  Baltimoren.  iii,  appro- 

bante  SS.  D.  N.  Gregorio  PP.  XVI.     1  vol.  32mo.  roan 50 

roan,  gilt  edges 75 

Turkey  morocco,  super  extra 1  25 

(The  English  Prayers  have  been  added  to  each.) 
The  above  works  {printed  by  order  of  the  Provincial  Council)  are  sold 
at  very  low  prices,  the  style  in  w-hich  they  are  got  up  and  the  limited 
sales  taken  into  consideration.     They  are  well  printed  on  fine  paper, 
and  may  each  be  had  in  a  variety  of  bindings. 
THE  ROSARY  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN,  32mo 6 


PUBLISHED   AND    FOR   SALE    BY   JOHN    MURPHY.  S 

SERMONS  ON  THE  FOUR  MARKS  OF  THE  CHURCH,  with 
Illustrations.  By  the  Rev.  John  Fletcher,  D.D.  2  vols.  8vo.     2  50 

SERMONS  ON  VARIOUS  RELIGIOUS  AND  MORAL  SUB- 
JECTS.    By  the  Rev.  John  Fletcher,  D.D.     1  vol.  8vo 150 

PASTORAL  LETTER  ot  the  Most  Rev.  the  Archbishop  of  Balti- 
more, and  the  Rt.  Rev.  the  Bishops  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church 
in  the  United  States  of  America,  assembled  in  Provincial  Council  in 
Baltimore,  May,  1843,  to  the  Cici-gy  and  Laity  of  th(ur charge. .     12 

ORATION  delivered  at  the  First  Commemoration  of  the  Landing  of 
the  Pilgrims  of  Maryland,  celebrated  May  lOth,  1842,  under  the  aus- 
pices of  the  Philodemic  Society  of  Georgetown  College.  By  Wm. 
Gfo.  Read,  L.  L.  D.,  a  member  of  the  society 25 

LECTURE  ON  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  HISTORY,  and  some  of 
the  Popular  Errors  which  are  ibunded  on  it.  Delivered  before  the 
Calvert  Institute,  January  24th,  1S44.  By  S.  Teackle  VVallis, 
Esq 12 

FAITH,  HOPE,  AND  CHARITY  :  the  substance  of  a  Sermon 
preached  at  the  dedication  of  the  Catholic  chapel  at  Bradford,  Eng- 
land, by  P.  A.  Baines,  Bishop  of  Siga,  &.c.     16  pp.  Svo 3 

^I^AITBR    BOOHS. 

A  MANUAL  OF  CATHOLIC  MELODIES,  or  a  Compilation  of 
Hymns,  Anthems,  Psahns,  &,c.,  with  appropriate  Airs,  and  Devo- 
tional Exercises,  tor  the  ordinary  occasions  of  Catholic  Piety  and 
Worship,  To  which  is  added  a  Short  Introduction  to  the  Art  of  Sing- 
ing. By  Rev.  James  Hcerner,  with  the  approbation  of  the  Right 
Rev.  Bishop  of  Richmond.    464  pp.  cap  Svo.  full  bound,  sheep,  I 

fine  steel  plate 1  00 

rolled  edges,  raised  bands,  2  plates 1  25 

full  roan,  2  plates 1  50 

arabesque,  gilt,  with  a  beautiful  and  appropriate  stamp,  three 

plates 2  00 

Turkey,  sup.  extra  gilt,  3  plates 2  50 

This  work  has  been  strongly  recommended  by  many  of  the  Rt.  Rev. 
Bishops  and  Rev.  Clergy,  the  Leaders  of  Choirs,  Proltssors  of  Music, 
and  the  Catholic  Press  generally,  as  being  peculiarly  well  adapted  to 
the  wants  of  the  Catholics  of  this  country.  And,  as  to  cheapness,  we 
have  no  hesitation  in  saying  that  it  is  by  far  ike  cheapest  work  yet  of- 
fered to  the  Catholics  of  the  United  States. 

DAILY  EXERCISES  :  a  very  neat  little  miniature  Prayer  Book,  con- 
sisting of  the  Holy  Mass  and  Vespers,  with  Morning  and  Evening 

Prayers.     To  which  is  added  a  selection  of  Hymns.    48mo 25 

roan 38 

"     gilt  edges 50 

"       "      "      tucks 75 

Turkey  morocco 75 

A  MANUAL  OF  CATHOLIC  DEVOTIONS,  throughout  the  eccle- 
siastical year,  by  the  Rev.  E.  Damphoux,  D.  D.  32mo.  sheep.. .     50 

Roan,  plates .' 75 

Gilt  Edges 1  00 

Turkey  morocco,  extra  gilt 1  50 

THE  SECULAR'S  OFFICE,  or  apppropriate  Exercises  for  every 

day  in  the  week,  &c.  416  j)p.  super  royal  32mo.  sheep 62 

calf,  gilt 1  50 


4  LIST    OF    CHEAP    CATHOLIC    BOOKS 

THE  CHRISTIAN  SACRIFICE  ILLUSTRATED:  Being  a  com- 
plete Manual  of  Instructions  and  Devotions  for  hearing  Mass,  with 
the  Evening  office  of  the  Church,  in  Latin  and  English,  and  a  selec- 
tion of  pious  Hymns.  Also,  the  Gospels  for  the  Sundays  and  Festi- 
vals of  Obligation  throughout  the  year.     o2mo.  full  sheep,  rolled 

edges 38 

Fine  paper,  roan 50 

"         «'         '•     gilt  edges 75 

Turkey  morocco,  super  extra  gilt  edges 1  50 

This  highly  useful  little  book  contains,  in  addition  to  a  highly  finished 
frontispiece  and  illuminated  title  page,  thirty-six  fine  engravings,  illus- 
trating the  holy  Sacrifice  of  the  Mass,  with  devotions  suited  to  each  of 
the  various  classes  who  devoutly  assist  thereat:  with  ample  instructions 
on  the  nature  and  dignity  of  the  sacrifice  for  the  young  and  uninformed. 
It  also  contains  the  ordinary  of  the  Mass,  in  Latin  and  English,  the 
Gospels,  the  Vespers,  and  a  collection  of  appropriate  hymns.  It  is  one 
of  the  most  useful  and  appropriate  books  for  the  young  and  uninstructed. 
THE  CHRISTIAN'S  GUIDE  TO  HEAVEN,  or  a  Manual  of  Spi- 
ritual Exercises  for  the  use  of  Catholics 25 

Roan,  plates 38 

"      fine  paper , 50 

"      gilt  edges 75 

Turkey  morocco,  sup.  extra  gilt 1  50 

THE  URSULINE  MANUAL,  or  a  Collection  of  Prayers,  Spiritual 
Exercises,  &:c.,  interspersed  with  the  various  instructions  necessary 
for  forming  youth  to  the  practice  of  solid  Piety.  18mo.  sheep,  em- 
bellished with  beautiful  steel  engravings 75 

rolled  edges,  raised  bands 1  00 

roan,  gilt  edges,  7  plates 1  50 

Turkey  morocco,  gilt,  8  plates 2  00 

"  "  super  extra  gilt,  8  plates 2  50 

FLOWERS  OF  PIETY,  selected  from  approved  sources  and  adapted 
for  general  use.     Embellished  with  beautiful  steel  engravings,  48mo. 

sheep 37 

Roan,  gilt  edges 75 

Turkey  morocco,  super  extra  gilt 1  25 

WARD'S  TREE  OF  LIFE,  or  the  Church  of  Christ.  This 
beautiful  Ecclesiastical  Chart,  presenting  at  one  view  a  complete  his- 
tory of  the  Church  from  its  first  establishment  down  to  the  present 
period.  The  succession  of  the  Popes — the  Ages  in  which  the  most 
distinguished  Writers  flourished — Saints,  and  eminent  Catholics,  orna- 
mented the  Church — in  which  the  several  Councils  were  held,  and 
Conversion  of  Nations  took  place — in  which  the  various  Schisms  and 
Heresies  broke  out — together  with  the  names  of  those  who  were  cutoff, 
or  fell  from  the  Church.  The  whole  embracing  a  complete  epitome  of 
Church  History,  elegantly  executed  in  fine  line  engraving,  on  a  large 
sheet,  twenty-five  by  forty  inches,  handsomely  colored,  varnished  and 
mounted,  making  at  once  an  appropriate  ornament  for  the  Church, 
Parlor  or  Library,  is  sold  at  the  low  price  of  ^4  per  copy. 

A  liberal  discount  made  to  dealers. 
PORTRAIT  OF  THE  RIGHT  REV.  DR.  ENGLAND,  a  beauti- 
ful Mezzotint  Engraving,  by  Sartain 25 


PUBLISHED    AND   FOR   SALE   BY   JOHN  MURPHY.  5 

PORTRAIT  OF  ARCHBISHOP  CARROLL,  a  very  fine  Mezzotint, 
by  Sartain 25 

PORTRAIT  OF  MOTHER  SETON,  Foundress,  and  first  Mother  of 
the  community  of  the  Sisters  of  Chanty,  in  St.  Joseph's  Valley,  near 
Emmittsburg,  Maryland.  (Mezzotint  and  Line  Engraving  com- 
bined,) by  Tucker 25 

PORTRAIT  OF  ARCHBISHOP  NEALE 25 

THE  LORD'S  PRATER,  beautifully  illustrated *.....     25 

THZS   CABXBTXST   IiXSRARlTg 

This  highly  interesting  series  of  Moral  Tales,  (translated  from  the 
French,)  intended  for  the  amusement  and  edification  of  the  young, 
is  printed  in  the^neatest,  and  most  attractive  form  ;  each  tale  is  embel- 
lished with  a  plate,  illuminated  title  pa^e,  ornamented  chapter  heads, 
&c.  The  numerous  testimonials  in  their  favor,  from  the  Rev.  clergy 
and  the  Catholic  press  throughout  the  country,  are  the  best  evidence  of 
their  utility.    A  No.  of  the  Library  appears  every  two  or  three  months. 

They  are  bound  in  a  uniform  and  beautiful  style,  in  embossed  cloth, 
gilt  edges 38 

Plain  cloth 25 

List  of  Works  published  in  the  Cabinet  Library. 

These  will  be  followed  in  regular  succession,  by  other  works  of 
similar  character. 
No.  1.  MARIA,  OR  Confidence  in  God,  ultimately  rewarded. 
No.  2.  THE  WOODEN  CROSS,  by  C.  Schmid. 
No.  3.  THE  LILY  OF  THE  VALLEY. 
No.  4.  THE  SOUVENIR  AND  OTHER  TALES. 
No.  5.  THE  GARLAND  OF  HOPS. 
No.  6.  PRASCOVIA,  or  Filial  Piety. 
No.  7.  LORENZO,  or  the  Empire  of  Religion  (in  press.) 

NEW   AND    CHEAP  WORKS    IN   PRESS. 

To  appear  early  in  June. 

,  A  NEW  PRAYER  AND  HYMN  BOOK, /or  the  use  of  Catholic 
Sunday  Schools  throughout  the  United  Slates.  This  little  work,  com- 
piled by  a  competent  clergyman,  will  contain  Morning  and  Evening 
Prayers,  Short  Prayers  at  Mass,  with  36  fine  Engravings,  illustrating 
the  holy  sacrifice  ;  Instructions  and  Devotions  for  Confession,  Com- 
munion, and  Confirmation  ;  also,  the  Vespers,  and  a  suitable  collection 
of  Pious  Hymns.     Price  18|  cts.  or  $12  50  per  hundred. 

A  MANUAL  OF  CATHOLIC  MELODIES,  HYMNS,  PSALMS, 
&c.,  abridged  for  the  use  of  Schools,  &c.  This  work  will  contain  a 
choice  selection  fmm  the» Devotions  and  Melodies  of  the  original  work, 
particularly  adapted  to  the  use  ot  young  persons,  on  the  various  occa- 
sions when  they  may  be  called  to  the  performance  of  their  spiritual 
duties,  or  to  the  entertaining  exercises  of  sacred  chant. 

Ocf^These  works  will  be  issued,  with  all  possible  despatch,  and  will 
be  sold  at  very  low  prices. 

Clergymen,  Teachers,  Sunday  School  Societies,  Pious  Confraterni- 
ties, and  others,  desirous  of  encouraging  the  publication  of  these  useful 
works,  will  have  the  kindness  to  forward  their  orders  at  their  earliest 
convenience. 
53 


6  LIST    OF    CHEAP    CATHOLIC    BOOKS 

New  Works,  preparing  for  immediate  Publication. 

A  MANUAL  OF  CATHOLIC  MELODIES,  HYMNS,  PSALMS, 
&,c.,  containing  Devotional  Exercises  lor  ordinary  occasions,  so  ar- 
ranged as  to  answer  the  purposes  of  Catholic  piety  and  worship. 

A  NEW  CATHOLIC  PRAYER  BOOK.— This  work  will  be  com- 
prised in  a  neat32mo.  volume  of  upwards  of  500  pages,  and  will  contain 
all  the  Prayers,  and  De\'otions,  used  by  Catholics  generally. — Neither 
pains  nor  expense  will  be  spared  to  make  this  the  most  comprehensive, 
as  well  as  the  cheapest  Prayer  Book  that  has  yet  been  oliered  to  the 
Catholics  of  this  country. 

mSCELLABJEOUS  WORKS. 

BURNAP'S  LECTURES  TO  YOUNG  MEN,  on  the  Cultivation  of 
the  mind,  the  Formation  of  Character,  and  the  Conduct  of  Life.  Se- 
cond edition,  revised  and  enlarged.     1  vol.  12mo.  muslin  stamped     75 

BURNAP'S  LECTURES  on  the  Sphere  and  Duties  of  Woman  and 
other  subjects.     1  vol.  12mo.  muslin  stamped 1  00 

BIBLE  QUADRUPEDS:  The  Natural  History  of  the  animals  men- 
tioned in  Scripture,  illustrated  with  16  splendid  Engravings.  16mo. 
fancy  paper d'S 

cloth 75 

"    gilt 1  00 

A  SERIES  OF  SELECT  AND  ORIGINAL  MODERN  DESIGNS 
FOR  DWELLING  HOUSES,  for  the  use  of  Carpenters  and  Build- 
ers :  adapted  to  the  style  of  building  in  the  United  States,  with  24 
plates.     By  J.  Hall,  Architect.     1  vol.  4to 3  50 

A  NEW  AND  CONCISE  METHOD  OF  HAND-RAILING,  upon 
correct  principles :  simplified  to  the  capacity  of  every  practical 
Carpenter ;  also,  a  full  development  of  the  Cylindric  Sections,  as 
applied  to  Niches,  Groins,  Domes,  and  the  most  intricate  parts  of 
Carpentry.     By  J.  Hall,  Architect.     1  vol.  4to.  plates. 2  50 

CABINET  MAKERS'  ASSISTANT  :  Embracing  tl>€  most  modern 
style  of  Cabinet  Furniture  ;  exemplified  in  New  Designs,  practically 
arranged  on  44  plates,  containing  198  figures :  to  which  is  prefixed  a 
short  Treatise  on  Linear  Perspective,  for  the  use  of  Practical  men. 
By  J.  Hall,  Architect  and  Draftsman.     1  vol.  8vo 3  00 

THE  AMERICAN  MUSEUM,  of  Science  and  Literature  and  the 

Arts ;  A  Monthly  Magazine,  504  pages  octavo,  of  choice  original 

and  selected  articles,  from  some  of  the  best  authors,  vol.  1,  1838.3  00 

"  "  "  "  "  «  vol.  2,  1839.3  00 

THE  MARYLAND  MEDICAL  AND  SURGICAL  JOURNAL, 
and  Official  Organ  of  the  Medical  Department  of  the  Army  and 
Navy  of  the  United  States,  published  under  the  auspices  of  the  Me- 
dical and  Chirurgical  Faculty  of  Maryland,  vol.  1,  1839-40. . . .  .3  00 

vol.  2,  1840-41 3  00 

THE  GENTLEMAN'S  POCKET  FARRIER 12 


^^^^^^^  Lii<s;>c2>i:KS.^, 


The  Diverting  History  of  JOHN  GILPIN,  with  six  fine  Illustrations 
by  Cruikshanks 6 

A  Large  Assortment  of  COPPERPLATE  TOY  BOOKS,  compris- 
ing about  thirty  diiferent  kinds,  which  will  be  sold  at  about  one-half 
the  usual  prices. 


PUBLISHED    AND    FOR    SALE    BY    JOHN    MURPHY.  7 

SPANISH   SCHOOL    BOOKS. 

SILABARIO  CASTELLANO,  para  el  U?o  de  Los  NINOS,  bajo  un 
Nuevo  Plan,  Util  y  A,2:ra{lable  ;  reuniendo  laEnsenanza  de  las  Letras, 
Urbanidad,  Moral,  v  Relii^ion. — Fancy  paper 25 

SILABARIO  CASTELLANO,  para  cl  Uso  de  las  NINAS,  bajo  un 
Nuevo  Plan,  Util  y  A£z;rHdable  ;  reuniendo  la  Ensenanzade  las  Letras, 
Urbanidad,  Moral,  y  Religion.— Fancy  paper , 25 

NEW    LAW    BOOK,    IN    PRESS. 

EXECUTORS,  ADMINISTRATORS,  AND  GUARDIANS;  or, 
a  Digest  of  all  the  Cases  in  the  Maryland  Reports, on  Appeal 
from  the  Orphan's  Courts,  and  of  the  Cases  on  Appeal  from  the 
County  Courts,  on  the  Official  Bonds  of  Executors,  Admin- 
istrators, and  Guardians:  with  an  Appendix,  containing  a 
Synopsis  of  the  Acts  of  Assembly,  &c.  By  James  Raymond,  of 
the  Maryland  Bar.  This  work  will  be  comprised  in  about  300  pages, 
octavo ;  it  will  be  well  printed  on  fine  paper,    bound  in  the  usual 

style.     Price 3  00 

*^*  Should  this  experiment  meet  with  sufHcient  encouragement,  it 

will  probably  be  continued,  until  the  profession  are  furnished  with  an 

entire  Digest  of  the  Maryland  Reports. 

UNITED  STATES  CATHOLIC  IflAGAZINE 

AND    MONTHLY    REVIEW. 

The  Official  Organ  of  the  Most  Rev.  Archbishop  of  Baltimore,  and  the 
Right  Rev.  Bishop  of  Richmond ;  and  published  with  the  appro- 
bation of  the  Right  Rev.  Bishops  of  the  United  States. 

The  Subscription  is  Three  Dollars  per  year,  payable  inva- 
riably in  advance.  Two  copies  of  the  work  will  be  mailed  regularly 
for  one  year,  or  one  copy  for  two  years,  for  $5 :  four  copies  for  one 
year,  for  $10 :  ten  copies  for  one  year,  for  $20. 

GENERAL  AGENTS.— Liverpool— Booker  8c  Co.,  37  Ranclagh 
street.  Paris— Hector  Bossange,  11  Quai  Voltaire.  Montreal, 
L.  C— E.  R.  Farre,  Rue  St.  Vincent.  Boston— Jordan  &  Co.,  121 
Washington  street.  New  York— M.  O'Flaherty,  4  City  Hall  Place. 
Philadelphia— R.  G.  Berford,  101  Chesnut  street.  Washington, 
D.  C.—N.  Callan,  Jr.,  F.  st.,  near  loth.  Pittsburg,  Pa.— Geo. 
QuiGLEY,  Fifth  street. 

In  addition  to  the  foregoing,  all  the  CATHOLIC  BOOKS  published 
in  New  York  and  Philadelphia,  are  kept  constantly  on  hand,  and  fur- 
nished at  publishers'  prices. 

Always  on  hand,  PIOUS  MEDALS,  CRUCIFIXES,  PRAYER 
BEADS,  &c.,  at  very  moderate  prices. 

ORDERS  from  the  Country,  promptly  attended  to. 


8  LIST    OF    CHEAP    CATHOLIC    BOOKS 

A  GOLDEN  TREATISE  ON  MENTAL  PRAYER,  ISmo.  cl.    50 

ALETHEIA,  or  Letters  on  the  Truth  of  Catholic  Doctrines.  By  Rev. 
C.  C.  Pise.     12mo.  muslin 1  00 

ALTON  PARK,  or  Conversations  on  Religious  and  Moral  Subjects. 
12mo,  muslin 75 

ANGELICAL  VIRTUE,  or  a  Treatise  on  Holy  Purity.     32rao.     25 

ANGLICAN  ORDINATIONS  EXAMINED.  By  Rev.  P.  R.  Ken- 
rick.     12mo.  muslin 75 

ANCIENT  AND  MODERN  MUSIC,  selected  for  the  use  of  the 
Catholic  Church,  consisting  of  Litanies,  Masses,  &c.  &c.  By  J. 
Walter 4  50 

ABSTRACT  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  OLD  AND  NEW 
TESTAMENTS.     By  the  Ridit  Rev.  Dr.  Challoner.     18mo.     50 

ABRIDGMENT  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  DOCTRINE,  with  Proofs 
of  Scripture  on  points  controverted,  by  w^ay  of  question  and  answer. 
By  Rev.  H.Tuberville,  of  the  English  College  of  Doway.    ISmo.     25 

AMICABLE  DISCUSSION  on  the  Church  of  England,  and  on  the 
Reformation  in  general.     2  vols.  12mo.  muslin 1  75 

ANSWER  to  the  Rev.  G.  S.  Faber's  Ditficulties  of  Romanism.  12mo. 
muslin 75 

ABRIDGMENT  OF  THE  INTERIOR  SPIRIT  of  the  Religious  of 
the  Visitation  of  the  B.  V.  M 25 

AMENDMENT,  or  Charles  Grant  and  his  Sister.     ISmo.  cloth. .     37 

APOLOGY  for  the  Order  of  St.  Dominic.  By  the  Abbe  H.  Lacor- 
daire.     ISmo.  half  bound 37 

ARBITRARY  POWER  —  Popery,  Protestantism;  as  contained  in 
Nos.  15,  IS,  19  of  the  Dublin  Review.     12mo.  muslin 75 

AUTHENTIC  REPORT  of  the  Controversial  Discussion  between 
Rev.  R.  T.  Pope  and  Rev.  T.  Maguire,  12mo.  bd 75 

ANTONIO ;  Or,  the  Orphan  of  Florence.  Translated  from  the 
French 25 

BOSSUET'S  VARIATIONS  of  the  Protestant  Churches.  2  vols. 
12mo.  sheep 2  50 

BEAUTIES  OF  MORE  :  Sequel  to  his  Life  and  Times.  ISmo. 
muslin 75 

BERTHA  ;  Or,  the  Screen  ;  The  Watchman  ;  and  Young  Henry, 
the  Stolen  Child 25 

BUTLER'S  CATECHISM 6 

CARE  W'S  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY  of  Ireland,  Svo.bd.  2  00 

COBBETT'S  REFORMATION,  2  vols,  in  one,  bound  in  sheep,  com- 
plete edition 75 

12mo.  sheep 50 

12mo.  paper 30 

CATHOLIC  MANUAL,  containing  a  selection  of  prayers  and  devo- 
tional exercises,  with  four  handsome  engravings.  ISmo.  bound..     87 

CATHOLIC  PRIMER,  for  the  use  of  children 6 

CATECHISM  OF  THE  COUNCIL  OF  TRENT.  8vo.  bound.  .1  50 

CHRISTIANITY,  or  the  Evidences  and  Characters  of  the  Christian 
Religion.     By  Bishop  Poynter.  V.  A.  L.     12mo.  muslin 75 

CHRISTIAN  iPERFECTION,  from  Rodriguez  and  others.  By  Rev. 
E.  Dainphoux,  D.  D.  Rector  of  the  Cathedral.  2d  edition,  revised 
and  enlarged.     12mo.  muslin 1  00 

CRITICAL  AND  HISTORICAL  REVIEW  OF  FOX'S  BOOK 
OF  MARTYRS.  By  W.  E.  Andrews.  Embellished  with  50  en- 
gravings.    2  vols.  8vo.  bound 4  00 


FOR    SAT.F.    BY    JOHN    MURPHV.  9 

CAROLINE  HENSON,  or  the  Pious  Orphan  Girl.     ISmo.halfbd.     13 

CATHOLIC  CHRISTIAN  INSTRUCTED.     l8mo.  sheep 50 

CONFUTATON  of  the  Church  of  Englandism,  and  Correct  Exposi- 
tion of  the  Catholic  Faith.     12rao.  sheep 75 

CHRISTIAN'S  GUIDE  TO  HEAVEN.  -32010. sheep 25 

"  "  "  "     roan,  fine  plates.     50 

"      gilt 75 

CONFIDENCE  IN  THE  MERCY  OF  GOD.     12mo.  sheep.. .     75 

COCHIN  ON  THE  MASS.     T2mo.  sheep 1  00 

CEREMONIES  OF  LOW  MASS,  according  to  the  Rubrics  of  the 

Missal,  Decrees  of  the  Popes,  &,c.  &c.     8 vo.  stitched 25 

CHAPEL  COMPANION  ;  containing  Pious  Devotions  at  Mass,  &c. 

&,c.     32mo.  sheep 25 

CHRISTIAN  at  the  Foot  of  the  Cross 12 

CATHOLIC  SCHOOL  BOOK,  containing  easy  and  familiar  lessons 

for  instruction  of  youth  of  both  sexes.     ISmo.  half  bound 15 

CATHOLIC  DOCTRINE  of  Justification  explained.     By  Rt.  Rev. 

Dr.  Kenrick.    12mo.  muslin 75 

CONTROVERSY  between  Rev.  Messrs.  Hughes  and  Breckinridge  on 
the  subject — "Is   the   Protestant   religion   the  religion  of  Christ?" 

New  edition,  8vo.  bound 1  25 

CONSIDERATIONS  upon  Christian  Truths  and  Christian  Duties,  di- 
gested into  meditations  for  every  day  in  the  year.     By  Right  Rev. 

Dr.  Chailoner.     2  vols.  12mo.  bound 1  50 

DEVOUT  CHRISTIAN  Instructed  in  the  Faith  of  Christ  from  the 

written  Word.     By  the  Rt.  Rev.  Geo.  Hay.     2  vols.  12mo.  sh..  .1  50 

DEBATE  on  the  Roman  Catholic  Religion,  between  A.  Campbell  and 

Rt.  Rev.  John  Purcell,  Bishop  of  Cincinnati.    8vo.  muslin 1  50 

DEVOTIONS  OF  CALVARY,  or  Meditations  on  the  Passion  of  our 
Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ.     From  the  French  of  Father  J.  Cras- 

set.  S.  J.     18mo.  hound 44 

DOWAY  BIBLE,  Haydock's  folio 30  00 

"  "  8vo.  Cummiskey's  edition 2  25 

"  "  Med.  4to.  Lucas' edition 5  00 

«<  "  12mo.  suitable  for  missionaries 150 

«<              "          4to.    Saddlier's  ed.  in  16  numbers,  splendid  En- 
gravings, complete 4  00 

««  ««  "  "  "  with  Ward's  Errata  of  the 

Protestant  Bible  added 4  50 

It  may  be  had  in  every  variety  of  splendid  binding. 

«  "'         8vo.  Dungan's  ed.,  plates 2  50 

It  may  be  had  in  every  variety  of  fine  binding  from  $S  50  to  $7  50 
DEFENCE  OF  CATHOLIC  PRINCIPLES.    By  Rev.  D.  A.  Gal- 

litzin.     ISmo.  muslin 50 

DICTIONARY  OF  ALL  RELIGIONS,  or  the  Wanderings  of  the 

Human  Intellect.     By  the  Rev.  John  Bell.     8vo.  bound 125 

ELEVATION  of  the  Soul  to  God  by  Means  of  Spiritual  Considera- 
tions and  Affections.     18mo.  bound   75 

EPISTLES  AND  GOSPELS  for  the  Sundays  and  principal  Festivals 
throughout  the  year.  To  which  is  added  a  short  abridgment  of  the 
Christian  Doctrine,  for  the  use  of  the  Diocess  of  Boston.     18mo. 

bound 50 

ERRATA  OF  THE  PROTESTANT  BIBLE,  or  the  Truth  of  the 

English  Translation  Examined.     8vo.  bound   1  25 

EXTRACTS  FROM  EARLY  LESSONS.     Cloth 37 

33* 


10  LIST    OF    CHEAP    CATHOLIC    HOOKS 

EXPLANATION  of  the  Sacraments,  and  some  other  practices  of  the 
Catholic  Church.     By  Kev.  E.  Glover.     ISmo.  bound 60 

EXPLANATION  of  the  Prayers  and  Ceremonies  of  the  Holy  Sacri- 
fice of  Mass,  in  a  series  of  familiar  discourses.    ISmo.  bound. . .     50 

EXPLANATION  OF  THE  CONSTRUCTION,  furniture  and  orna- 
ments of  a  church,  of  the  vestments  of  the  clergy,  and  of  the  nature 
and  ceremonies  of  the  Mass.  By  the  Right  Rev.  John  England,  D. 
D.  Bishop  of  Charleston,  S.C.     12mo 75 

EUSTACHIUS  :  An  Episode  of  the  First  Ages  of  Christianity.  By 
C.  Schmid.     Translated  from  the  French 25 

EXPOSITION  of  the  Doctrine  of  the  Catholic  Church  in  matters  of 
controversy.  By  the  Right  Rev.  James  B.  Bossuet,  D.  D.  A  new 
edition,  with  copious  notes.  By  the  Rev.  John  Fletcher,  D.  D.  18mo. 
bound 50 

Another  edition  w^ithout  notes.     32mo 25 

ENGLAND'S  REFORMATION,  in  four  Dialogues.     18mo.  sh..     75 

FORM  OF  CONSECRATION  of  a  Bishop  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church,  according  to  the  Latin  rite.     12mo.  stitched 25 

FATHER  OSWALD,  a  genuine  Catholic  story.     12mo.  bd 75 

FAMILIAR  INSTRUCTIONS  in  the  Faith  and  Morality  of  the  Ca- 
tholic Church,  adapted  to  the  use  of  both  children  and  adults.  18mo. 
bound 37 

FOUR  MAXIMS  of  Christian  Philosophy,  drawn  from  four  consid- 
erations of  Eternity.     32mo.  muslin 25 

FIFTY  REASONS  why  the  Roman  Catholic  Apostolic  Religion 
ought  to  be  preferred  to  all  the  sects  at  this  day  in  Christendom. 
ISmo.  bound 25 

FAITH  OF  CATHOLICS,  on  certain  points  of  controversy,  confirmed 
by  Scripture,  and  attested  by  the  Fathers  of  the  first  five  centuries  of 
the  church.  Compiled  by  Rev.  Joseph  Barrington  and  Rev.  John 
Kirk.     12mo.  muslin 100 

FATHER  ROWLAND,  a  North  American  tale.     ISmo.  muslin..     50 

FERDINANDA;  Or,  the  Countess  of  Hennance ;  The  Glass  of 
Water.     Translated  from  the  French 25 

FLOWERS  OF  HEAVEN;  or  the  Examples  of  Saints,  proposed  to 
the  imitation  of  Christians.  Translated  from  the  French  of  the  Abbe 
Orsini.     12mo.  muslin 1  00 

GENERAL  HISTORY  OF  EUROPE,  from  the  beginning  of  the 
sixteenth  century  to  the  peace  of  Paris  in  1815,  with  addenda,  bring- 
ing the  history  down  to  1840.     Revised.     12mo 1  00 

GENERAL  HISTORY  of  the  Christian  Church,  chiefly  deduced 
from  the  Apocalypse  of  St.  John  the  Apostle  and  Evangelist.  By 
Sig.  Pastorini.     12mo.  bound 1  00 

GERALDINE,  a  Tale  of  Conscience.  By  E.  C.  Agnew,  a  convert. 
3  vols.  12mo.  muslin 2  25 

GLORIES  OF  MARY,  Mother  of  God  ;  containing  a  beautiful  Para- 
phrase on  the  "  Salve  Regina,"  translated  from  the  Italian  of  Li- 
guori ;  with  an  Appendix — Origin  of  the  Scapular.     32mo.  mus.     50 

GROUNDS  OF  THE  CATHOLIC  DOCTRINE.     ISmo.  bd...     25 

GARDEN  OF  THE  SOUL.     ISmo.  sheep 75 

"  "  "  "      roan,  gilt 150 

"  "  "  «       Turkey,  sup.  ext 2  .50 

GENEVIEVE,  a  Tale  of  Antiquity,  showing  the  wonderful  ways  of 
Providence  in  the  protection  of  Innocence.  From  the  German  of 
Schmid 25 


FOR    SALE    BY   JOHN    AlUKI'HY.  U 

HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH  from  its  establihhmont  to  t!ie  Re- 
formation.     By  the  Rev.  C.  C  Pise.     5  vols.  8vo.  sliecp 7  50 

HISTORY  OF  THE  OLD  AND  NEW  TESTAMENTS.  From 
the  French,     By  J.  Reeve.     1  vol.  8vo.  bound 1  00 

HORNIHOLD'S  20  DISCOURSES  ON  THE  SACRxVMENTS. 
l2mo.  bound 1  00 

HORNIHOLD'S  32  DISCOURSES  ON  THE  COMMANDMENTS. 
12mo.  bound 1  00 

HOHENLOE'S  PRAYER  BOOK,  translated  from  the  German.  iSmo. 
sheep 75 

HENRY  AND  MARY;  or,  Confidence  in  God.  our  only  support  in 
the  hour  of  tribulation.     Translated  from  the  French 25 

HAPPY  FAMILY,  a  Tale  of  Youth.     ISmo 37 

HOLY  HOUSE  OF  LORE T TO,  or  an  Explanation  of  the  Histori- 
cal Evidence  of  its  Miraculous  Translation.  By  the  Right  Rev.  P. 
R.  Kenricic,     12ino.  muslin 75 

IMPUTATION— an  Inquiry  into  the  Merits  of  the  Reformed  Doc- 
trine of  "  Imputation,"  as  contrasted  v/ith  those  of  "  Catholic  Im- 
putation."    By  Vanburo;h  Livingston,  Esq.     12mo,  muslin 75 

INSTRUCTION  OF  YOUTH  in  Christian  Piety.  By  Charles  Go- 
binett,  Esq.     12mo.  sheep 1  25 

INDIAN  COTTAGE,  an  Unitarian  Story.  By  the  author  of  Father 
Rowland.     ISrno.  muslin 50 

JUVENILE  SPORTS.     ISmo.  cloth,  colored  plates 50 

KEY  OF  HEAVEN,  or  a  Manual  of  Prayer;  to  which  are  now  added 
many  Prayers  not  in  any  former  edition.     32mo.  bd 50 

Another  edition 38 

Each  of  these  editions  may  be  had  in  every  variety  of  plain  and  fancy- 
binding. 

LETTERS  ON  RELIGIOUS  SUBJECTS,  between  a  Dissenting 
Minister  and  a  Roman  Catholic.     ISmo 25 

LETTERS  AND  SKETCHES;  with  a  Narrative  of  a  Year's  Resi- 
dence among  the  Indian  tribes  of  the  Rocky  Mountains.  By  P.  J. 
De  Smet,  S.  J.     12ino.  bound 1  00 

LETTERS  ON  THE  SPANISH  INQUISITION.  By  M.  Le 
Compte  Joseph  Le  Maistre.  From  the  French.  By  T.  J.  O'Fla- 
herty,  S.  E.  C,     New  edition.     12mo.  Biuslin 50 

LESSONS  FOR  LENT,  or  Instructions  for  every  day  in  the  year,  on 
the  two  Sacraments  of  Penance  and  the  Blessed  Eucharist.  18mo. 
bound 37 

LECTURES  on  the  principal  Doctrines  and  Practices  of  the  Catholic 
Church.     By  Nicholas  Wiseman,  D.D.     2  vols.  12mo.  sheep...  .1  50 

LIFE  OF  ST.  ALOYSIUS  GONZAGA.     ISmo.  muslin 37 

LIFE  OF  ST.  FRANCIS  XAVIER.     l2mo.  bound 1  25 

LIFE  OF  ST.  JOSEPH,  with  Meditations,  a  Novena,  and  other  de- 
votions in  honor  of  that  most  illustrious  patriarch.     32mo.  mus.     25 

LIFE  OF  ST.  IGNATIUS,  Founder  of  the  Society  of  Jesus.  Trans- 
lated from  the  French.  To  which  is  prefixed  a  Sketch  of  the  Insti- 
tute of  the  Jesuits.     1  vol.  r2tno 1  12 

LIFE  OF  CARDINAL  CHE  VERUS,  Archbishop  of  Bordeaux,  and 
formerly  Bishop  of  Boston,  Mass.     12ino.  cloth 1  00 

LIFE  OF  THE  RT.  REV.  DR.  DOYLE,  compiled  from  authentic 
^documents,  by  the  author  of  "  the  Priesthood  Vindicated."  ISmo. 
"bound SO 

LINGARD'S  Catechetical  Instructions 50 


12  LIST    OF    CHEAP  CATHOLIC    BOOK? 

LIFE  AND  TIMES  of  Sir  Thomas  More,  with  Portrait  and  Auto- 
graph.    ISino.  muslin 75 

LIVES  OF  THE  FATHERS,  MARTYRS,  andother  principal  Saints. 

By  the  Rev.  A.  Butler.     12  vols.  8vo.  bound 13  00 

The  same  Edition.     6  vols.  8vo.  bound 12  00 

LIVES  OF  EMINENT    SAINTS   of   the   Oriental   Desert.     12mo. 

bound 75 

LIVES    OF   NEW   SAINTS,   Canonized   May   26th,    1S39.     ISmo. 

bound 50 

LETTER  TO  A  PROTESTANT  FRIEND,  on  the  Holy  Scriptures. 
Bv  the  Rev.  Demetrius  A.  Gallitzin, — being  a   continuation  of  the 

"Defence  of  Catholic  Principles,"     18mo.  muslin 37 

LIFE  OF  ST.  PA  1  RICK.     r2mo.  bound 75 

LOUISA  ;  or  the  Virtuous  Villager.  A  Roman  Catholic  Tale.  Trans- 
lated from  the  French.     ISmo.  bound 50 

LOUIS,  THE  LITTLE  EMIGRANT,  translated  from  the  French 
bv  the  Rev.  J.  V.  Wiseman  :    and  The  Portmanteau,  translated 

from  the  French 25 

LITTLE  TESTAMENT  OF  JESUS,     32mo 6 

LINGARD'S  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  ANGLO-SAXON  Church. 

8vo.  bound ISO 

LOVE  OF  JESUS,  in  the  adorable  Sacrament  of  the  Altar.     ISmo. 

boTind 50 

MANUAL  OF  CATHOLIC  PIETY;  containing  a  selection  of  Fer- 
vent Prayers,  Pious  Reflections,  &:c.  &.c.     By  the  Rev.  Wm.  Gahan. 

32mo.  bound 50 

MAGUIRE  AND  GREGG'S  DISCUSSION.     Svo.  bound 1  50 

MILNER'S  END  OF  CONTROVERSY.     l2mo.  paper 30 

.<  "  "  12mo.  sheep 50 

METHOD  of  Conversing  vi-ith  God.     32mo 25 

ME.MOIRS  OF  MISSIONARY  PRil^STS,  and  other  Cathohcs,  of 
both  sexes,  that  have  suffered  death  in  England  on  religious  accounts, 
from  the  year  1577  to  16S4.  By  Bishop  Challoner,  V.  A.  L.  Care- 
luUy  collected  from  the  accounts  of  eye  witnesses,  cotemporary  au- 
thors, and  manuscripts  kept  in  English  colleges  and  convents  abroad. 

1  vol.  Svo.  bound 1  50 

MILNER'S  SUMMARY'"  of  the  History  and  Doctrine   of  the  Holy 

Scriptures,     ISmo.  bound 50 

MIRx\CULOUS  VIRGINS — Letter  Irom  the  Earl  of  Shrewsbury  to 
A.  1^.  Phillips,  Esq.,  descriptive  of  the  Estatica  of  Caldara,  and  the 

Addolorata  of  Capriana.     Stitched 31 

fvlONTH  OF  MARY  :  or  the  Month  of  May,  consecrated  to  the  glory 
of  the  Mother  of  God,  containing  a  series  of  meditations,  &.c.  in 
honor  of  the  B.  V.  M.  arranged  for  each  day  of  the  month.     32mo. 

muslin 37 

MORAL  ENTERTAINMENTS,  on  the  practical  truths  of  the 
Christian  Religion.     By  the  Rev.  Robert  Manning.     2  vols.  12mo. 

in  one 1  50 

MRS.  HERBERT  AND  THE  VILLAGERS,  or  Family  Conversa- 
tions on  the  principal  duties  of  Christianity.  2  vols.  ISmo.  raus.  1  50 
MORNING  AND    EVENING   SERVICE  of  the  Catholic  Church, 
comprisino-  a  choice  selection  of  Gregorian  and  other  Masses,  &c. 

By  R.  Garbett,    4to.  half  bound 2  60 

MORES  CATHOLICI:  or.  Ages  of  Faith:  by  Kenelm  H.  Digby, 
Esq.     Vol.  land  2.     Svo 4  00 


FOR   SALE    BY   JOHN   MURPHY.  13 

MOST  IMPORTANT  TENETS  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Cluirch. 
By  R.  Baxter,  S.  J.     32mo.  bound 25 

MOVEABLE  FEASTS,  FASTS,  and  other  Annual  Observances  of 
the  Catholic  Chnrch.  By  the  Rev.  A.  Butler,  author  of  Lives  of 
Saints.     12ino.  bound 1  60 

NEW  MONTH  OF  MARY.  By  the  Rev.  P.  R.  Kenrick.  ISrao. 
muslin 60 

ORIGIN  OF  THE  SCAPULAR  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN 
MARY;  Spirit  and  advantages  of  that  devotion  and  duties  to  be  per- 
formed.    Stitched 6 

OFFICE  OF  THE  HOLY  WEEK,  according  to  the  Roman  Missal 
and  Breviary,  in  Latin  and  English.     18mo.  bound .1  00 

PIOUS  BIOGRAPHY  for  Young  Ladies;  or  the  Young  Ladies'  Mir- 
ror.    18mo.  muslin 50 

POOR  MAN'S  CATECHISM.     12mo.  full  bound,  sheep 75 

Another  edition.     18mo 25 

PARABLES  OF  PERE  BONAVENTURE  GIRARDEAU,  S.  J., 
author  of  L'Evangile  Medite.     18mo.  muslin 37 

PALESTINE,  or  the  Holy  Land,  compiled  from  the  Travels  in  1806 
and  1807  of  F.  A.  D.  Chateaubriand.     2  vols.  ISmo.  muslin 75 

PIOUS  GUIDE  to  Prayer  and  Devotion 75 

PRACTICE  OF  THE  LOVE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST,  taken  from  the 
words  of  St.  Paul.     By  St.  A.  M.  Liguori.     24mo.  muslin 50 

PRACTICAL  DISCOURSES  on  the  Perfections  and  wonderful 
Works  of  God,  and  the  Divinity  and  wonderful  Works  of  Jesus 
Christ.     By  the  Rev.  Joseph  Reeve.    Svo.  bound 1  50 

PRACTICAL  REFLECTIONS  for  every  day  throughout  the  year. 
By  the  Rev.  Robert  Lane,  enlarged  and  edited  by  the  Rev.  Edward 
Peach,     12mo.  muslin 1  00 

PRIZE  BOOK,  or  a  series  of  instructions  on  some  of  the  most  im- 
portant duties  of  youth.  By  the  author  of  "  Alton  Park."  12mo. 
muslin 75 

PIOUS  SODALITY  OF  THE  MOST  SACRED  HEART  OF  JE- 
SUS ; — universally  propagated  throughout  the  Christian  world ;  with 
the  approbation  of  the  Right  Rev.  Dr.  Kenrick. .  12 

POCKET  COMPANION.    32mo.  bound 25 

PRACTIC&OF  CHRISTIAN  AND  RELIGIOUS  PERFECTION. 
By  V.  F.  Alphonsus  Rodriguez,  S.  J.     2  vols.  Svo.  bound 4  00 

PRIMACY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  SEE  and  the  authority  of  Gen- 
eral Councils  vindicated.  By  the  Right  Rev.  Frs.  P.  Kenrick,  D.  D. 
12mo.  muslin 1  00 

REAL  PRINCIPLES  OF  CATHOLICS;  or,  a  Catechism  of  general 
Instruction  for  grown  people.     By  Hornihold.     12mo.  bound ...  1  00 

REAL  PRESENCE  OF  THE  BODY  AND  BLOOD  OF  OUR 
LORD  JESUS  CHRIST  in  the  Blessed  Eucharist.  Proved  from 
Scripture,  in  8  lectures.     By  Rev.  N.  Wiseman.     12mo.  bound.  1  00 

REASONS  for  becoming  a  ROMAN  CATHOLIC.  By  Frederick 
Lucas,  Esq.  stitched 25 

ROMAN  MISSAL,  translated  into  the  English,  for  the  use  of  the 
Laity.  To  which  is  prefixed  a  Historical  Explanation  of  the  V^est- 
ments.  Ceremonies,  Sec,  appertaining  to  the  Holy  Sacrifice  of  the 
Mass.  By  the  Rt.  Rev.  Dr.  Englandj^late  Bishop  of  Charleston.  To 
which  is  added  the  Vespers.     Containing  846  pages,  ISmo.  sh.     1  25 

fine  paper,  roan  gilt  edges,  extra 2  25 

morocco,  super  extra,  gilt  edges 3  00 


|4  LIST    OF    CHEAP    CATHOLIC    BOOKS 

RIVERS'  MANUAL  ;  or,  Pastoral  Instructions  upon  the  Creed,  Gom- 
mandments,  Sacraments,  Lord's  Prayer,  &c.&c.     12mo.  bound,  1  25 

RULES  OF  A  CHRISTIAN  LIFE.  By  the  Rev.  C.  Premord. 
2  vols.  12nao.  muslin. 1  5u 

RULE  OF  FAITH,  chiefly  an  epitome  of  the  Right  Kev.Dr.  Milner's 
End  pf  Controversy.     ISmo 20 

SYIVIBOLISM,  or  Exposition  of  the  Doctrinal  Differences  between 
Catholics  aiKl  Protestants,  as  evidenced  by  their  Symbolical  Writins:?. 
Bv  John  Adam  Mohler,  D.D.     8vo.  cloth 2  '25 

SHORTEST   WAY  to  end  Disputes  about  Religion.     12mo.  bd..     75 

SHORT  EXAMIiVATlOiV  OF  CONSCIENCE 12 

SIX  HISTORICAL  LECTURES, on  the  origin  and  progress  in  Eng- 
land, of  the  change  of  religion  called  the  Reformation,  delivered  in 
the  Catholic  Church  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  Newark,  England.  By 
Rev.  J.  Waterworth,  M.  A.  1  vol.  8vo 1  50 

SINNER'S  GUIDE,  in  two  books.  By  the  Rev.  F.  Lewis,  of  Gre- 
nada.    Svo.  bound ]   50 

SINCERE  CHRISTIAN  instructed  in  the  Faith  of  Christ,  from  the 
written  Word.     By  Bishop  Hay.     Svo.  bound 1  50 

SURE  WAY  to  find  out  the  True  Religion,  in  a  conversation  between 
a  Father  and  Son.     By  the  Rev.  T.  Baddelv.     ISmo.  muslin. . .     25 

SHORT  STORIES  FOR  CHILDREN.     18mo.  cloth 38 

SIMPLE  STORIES  FOR  LITTLE  READERS.     ISmo.  cloth    37 

SUFFERINGS  OF  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST.  Revised  by  W. 
Jos.  Walter.     2  vols.  12mo.  bound 1  75 

SERMONS  of  the  Rt.  Rev.  Dr.  Gallagher.  Translated  from  the  ori- 
ginal Irish.     12mo.  muslin 75 

SHORT  TREATISE  ON  PRAYER,  adapted  to  all  classes  of  Chris- 
tians.    By  the  Blessed  A.  M.  Liguori.     32mo.  muslin 37 

SPIRITUAL  RETREAT  for  eight  successive  days.  Translated  from 
the  French  of  Bourdaloue.  By  the  Rev.  William  Gahan,  O.  S.  A. 
ISmo.  bound 75 

SPIRIT  OF  RELIGIOUS  CONTROVERSY.  By  the  Rev.  John 
Fletcher,  D.D.     ISmo.  bound 75 

ST.  JOHN  CHRYSOSTOM.     l8mo.  muslin 50 

SPIRIT  OF  BLESSED  ALPHONSUS  DE  LIGUORI,  being  a  se- 
lection from  his  shorter  Spiritual  Treatises.  Translated  from  the 
Italian  by  the  Rev.  James  Jones.  Preceded  by  a  Memoir  of  the 
holy  author.     24mo.  muslin 50 

ST.  JOSEPH'S  MANUAL,  or  Catholic  Guide  during  the  Morning 
and  Evening  Service  of  the  Church.     By  ihe  Rev.  E.  Damphoux, 

D.D.     1  vol.  sup.  royal  S2mo " 62 

It  mav  be  had  in  a  varietv  of  fine  bindings. 

SPIRITUAL  CONSOLATION,  or 'a  Treatise  on  Interior  Peace. 
By  the  authoress  of  the  Ursuline  Manual.     18mo.  bd 75 

THE  PROTESTING  CHRISTIAN,  standing  before  the  judgment 
seat  of  Christ.     Stitched •...     12 

THE  TWO  SCHOOLS,  a  Moral  Tale.  By  Mrs.  Hughs.  A  new 
edition,  12mo.  muslin 75 

TRACTS  on  several  subjects  connected  with  the  civil  and  religious 
principles  of  Catholics.  By.  J.  Lingard,  D.  D.  1  vol.  12mo.  mus- 
lin  1  00 

THINK  WELL  ON'T.     32mo.  sheep 25 

THE  PROTESTANT'S  TRIAL  in  Controversial  Points  of  Faith  by 
Jhe  Written  Word.     ISmo.  cloth 30 


FOR    SALE    BY    JOHN    MURrHV,  15 

THE  NIGHTINGALE,  or  Virtuous  ConHuct  Rewarded  ;  and  the 
Christian  Family,  or  Tiiuinph  of  Constancy  in  the  Faith.  Trans- 
lated from  the  French 25 

THE  LADY  IN  BLACK;  Thk  Strawberries;  Rosamond. 
Translated  from  the  French 25 

THE  BASKET  OF  FLOWERS,  Translated  from  the  French,  by  Uie 
Rev.  J.  V.  Wiseman 25 

THE  LITTLE  THATCHED  COTTAGE.  Translated  from  the 
French , .  . , 25 

THE  FIRST  BOOK  OF  READING  LESSONS,  compiled  by  the 
Brothers  of  the  Christian  Schools '. (^ 

THE  SECOND  BOOK  OF  READING  LESSONS, compiled  by  the 
same,  and  revised 12 

THE  THIRD  BOOK  OF  READING  LESSONS,  compiled  by  the 
same,  revised,  with  a  supplement.    12mo.  sheep  and  half  binding     y<> 

TREATISE  on  the  Diderence  between  Temporal  and  Eternal.  8vo- 
bound 1  50 

TREATISE  ON  BAPTISM  ;  to  which  is  added,  a  Treatise  on  Con- 
firmation. By  Rt.  Rev.  F.  P.  Kenrick,  Bishop  of  Philadelphia.  12mo. 
muslin 75 

THE  LITTLE  GARDEN  of  Roses  and  Valley  of  Lilies.  By  Thomas 
a  Kempis.     32mo.  cloth :jS 

THE  DEVOUT  CHRISTIAN'S  VADE  MECUM,  being  a  Sum- 
mary of  Select  and  Necessary  Devotions.     32mo 25 

It  may  be  had  in  various  fancy  bindings. 

THE  TOUCHSTONE  of  the  New  Religion.     32mo.  cloth :>5 

THE  TRUE  CHURCH  Indicated  to  the  Inquirer,  a  brief  Tract  for 
circulation.     By  the  Rev.  J.  McGill.     32mo.  cloth 31 

VISIT  TO  ROME  ;  by  the  Rev.  Father  Baron  Geramb,  Abbot  and 
Procurator  of  La  Trappe.     1  vol.  12mo.  Muslin 75 

VILLAGE  EVENINGS,  or  Conversations  on  the  principal  points  of 
Morality.     From  the  French.     ISmo-.  muslin 50 

VISITS  to  the  Blessed  Sacrament  and  to  the  Blessed  Virgin,  for  eveiy 
day  in  the  month.     By  the  Blessed  A.  M.  Liguorr.     32mo.  bd..     5t> 

WAY  OF  SALVATION— Meditations  tor  every  day  in  the  year. 
Tranf^lated  from  the  Italian  of  the  Blessed  Alphonsus  Liguori.  1  vol. 
12mo.  muslin 1  00 

WAY  OF  THE  CROSS.    18mo.  muslin 25 

YOUTH'S  COMPANION  to  the  Sanctuary.    18mo.  bound .^0 

YOUNG  COMMUNICANTS.  By  the  authoress  of  Geraldine.  ISmo, 
half  bound - 25 

YOUTH'S  DIRECTOR,  or  Familiar  Listructions  for  Young  People, 
which  will  be  found  usetid  also  to  persons  of  every  age,  sex,  and  con- 
dition in  life.     24mo.   muslin 50 

0C|»  ALL  NEW  CATHOLIC  BOOKS  are  received  as  soon  a* 
issued,  and  furnished,  wholesale  and  retail,  at  publishers'  prices. 

^^  J.  M.  would  respectfully  inform  the  public  that,  in  addition  to 
the  foregoing,  he  keeps  constantly  on  hand  a  great  variety  of  School 
and  Miscellaneous  Books,  Lav)  Books,  Stationer  if,  SfC,  not  enumerated  in 
this  Catalogue  ;  all  of  which  he  will  supply,  wholesale  or  retail,  at  the 
very  lowest  prices,  and  on  the  most  accommodating  terms. 

{^  Particular  attention  paid  to  Country  Orlilrs. 


PRINTING  ESTABLISHMENT, 

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Nearly  opposite  Light  street,  and  a  few  doors  below  the  Bank  of  Baliimorej 

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THE  PUBLIC    ARE    RESPECTFULLY  INFORMED    THAT   AT   THIS  ESTAB- 
LISHMENT, THEY  CAN  AT  ALL  TIMES  HAVE 

IIIUll'  ''lilllllU'     ''illlP    ''lip        'illilUll'     ''lllil  '.ii.il      'Hllllbllill    'illlll    yil'.lill      MUJ    'illllH    'lilll-.llll  'Hiliyillli 

AND  IN 

.  THAT  TASTE  OR  FANCY  CAN  DICTATE. 

THE    OFFICE   IS    ABUNDANTLY   SUPPLIED   WITH   THE    CHOICEST   KINDS   OF 


PLAIN  AND  ORNAMENTAL  JOB  PRINTING,  IN  ALL  ITS  VARIETIES. 

PRINTING  IN  GOLD,  SILVER,  BRONZE.  AND  FANCY  COLORED  INKS. 

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Bank  Checks,  Promissory  Notes,  Drafts,  Bills  of  Exclinnge, 

BILLS  OF  LADING,  COPY  BOOK  COVERS,  KISS  VERSES,  &c.  &c. 

A  great  variety  kept  constantly  on  hand,  and  sold  by  the  ream  or  smaller  quantities, 
at  very  low  prices.  They  will  also  be  printed  to  order  for  Booksellers,  Banking  In- 
stitutions, Sic.  at  short  notice. 

giy-ORDERS  from  the  Country  will  meet  with  prompt  attention. 


